A well deserved victory at Hereford took Welling United into the fourth qualifying round of the F.A. Cup.

Thierry Audel and Brendan Kiernan were the matadors as the Wings slayed the Bulls to continue their cup campaign.

They came out brightly against a team who would have been keen to impress their new Head Coach, Marc Richards.

Jack Jebb caused them multiple problems, both with set plays and with his probing passes out of midfield and tested Hereford goalkeeper Martin Horsell early on with a free kick around the defensive wall.

Lewis Hall drew a comfortable save out of Dan Wilks with a shot that turned out to be the hosts’ only effort on target over the ninety minutes.

There should have been another one when Eliot Richards headed wide from Danny Greenslade’s cross and they paid the price soon after when Welling went ahead.

Michael McGrath fouled Nassim L’Ghoul and Jebb’s free kick caused havoc. Thierry Audel showed the hunger to get there first and headed home as Horsell and McGrath collided in calamitous fashion. Horsell was stretchered off with concussion and McGrath had to leave the pitch with a broken nose.

The Hereford Head Coach had to use his last two substitutes but one who had come on earlier, Jamie Bird, tried his luck from outside the penalty area however his effort flew well wide.

Dead ball specialist Jebb delivered a corner to the near post but Kiernan was unable to find the target with his header.

At the other end the hosts were reduced to long range shots and Kieran Thomas fired wide just before the interval.

After the break, Josh Hill prodded wide after Danny Mills headed down Jebb’s corner then Kiernan tried to slip Mills through but Powell was out quickly to smother it.

Bird again fired over from the edge of the area after a corner was half cleared and a clearance from another Hereford corner led to Welling doubling their lead. L’Ghoul led the break but Kiernan had checked his run and it appeared that the ball was going to run out.

Kiernan refused to give it up though and chased it to the bye-line. Having kept it in, he made a diagonal run into the penalty area before slamming it beyond a helpless Powell.

Richards headed another Greenslade cross wide for Hereford but after that Welling saw the game out comfortably and might have extended their lead as Jebb fired two free kicks wide.

Steve King’s team will take a keen interest in Monday’s cup draw as they prepare for next Saturday’s Vanarama National League South fixture with Slough Town.

 

 

Hereford: Horsell (Powell 34), Thomas, Greenslade, Murphy, Cullinane-Liburd, Smith, Dinsley, McGrath (White 34), Jackson, Richards, Hall (Bird 22).

Subs not used: Green, Harrison, Franklin, Lam.

 

Welling United: Wilks, Hurst (Gibbons 83), Braham-Barrett, Mendy, Hill, Audel, Kiernan, Jebb, Mills, Kissock (Ijaha 90), L’Ghoul (Anau 72).

Subs not used: Ambroisine, Quebe, Goldberg, Pinney.

 

Hereford:

Goalscorers: None

Yellow cards: Bird, Thomas, Greenslade, Cullinane-Liburd, Dinsley.

Red cards: None

 

Welling United:

Goalscorers: Audel (28), Kiernan (69)

Yellow cards:

Red cards: None

 

 

Referee: Thomas Parsons.

Assistants: Tim Bowkett and Andrew Ellis

 

Attendance: 1,338

 

Welling star player: Brendan Kiernan

Pictures supplied by Dave Budden