Following their victory over Torquay United, Steve King said that it would mean little if Welling United didn’t follow it up with a success at Hungerford Town.

Although it was not a classic performance, the Wings managed to grind out a one-nil win to cement their place in the play-offs.

They started in a lively fashion and Gavin McCallum had the first goal effort but fired well over.

Brendan Kiernan then had a shot claimed at the near post as Welling continued to probe.

James Rusby’s rustic challenge on McCallum may have resulted in a caution from more card happy referees but Daniel Lamport showed leniency throughout and tried to let the game flow as much as possible.

He was not helped by one of his assistants and it could have proved harmful to Welling when Danilo Orsi-Dadomo was allowed to advance when well offside. Jordan Gibbons got back well and made a challenge deemed to be a foul and a penalty was awarded. Hungerford manager Ian Herring demanded a red card to be shown to Gibbons, apparently unaware of the ‘double jeopardy’ law and Gibbons was shown a yellow card.

After the fuss had died down, Orsi-Dadomo took the penalty himself but Dan Wilks read his intentions and went the right way to make the save.

Wilks had to make another good save, this time from Rhys Kavanagh, before Welling reclaimed control of the game but struggled to create clear cut openings.

Danny Mills had two half chances before the break, first heading over from a Kiernan corner and then turning on a McCallum cross before shooting wide.

After the interval, Arnaud Mendy’s shot was deflected wide by a player from his own team before another driven shot flew just past the far post with Michael Luyambula well beaten.

Alfy Whittingham shot wide of the near post after good work by Kavanagh before Welling scored the only goal of the game. Kiernan found Bradley Goldberg and he drove across the face of goal and Mills’ shot crashed back off the underside of the bar and over the line. He followed up and forced it into the back of the net to ensure that there was no doubt.

Kavanagh tried his luck with a first time shot that went wide but Welling were soon back on the march and Mills’ header was deflected wide for a corner. McCallum’s delivery caused more problems but Anthony Acheampong was unable to keep his effort down and it flew over.

Herring went for a triple substitution but it had little effect. Josh Martin headed over and Darren Foxley fired high and wide but Welling came the closest to scoring again. Kiernan broke through and shot just beyond the far post.

Hungerford Town: Luyambula, Johnson-Schuster (Lynch 74), Jones (Bailey 74), Rusby, Ekpiteta, Martin, Anderson (Willmoth 74), Whittingham, Orsi-Dadomo, Kavanagh, Foxley. Subs not used: Bailey, Ouldridge.

Welling United: Wilks, Gibbons, Braham-Barrett, Ijaha, Acheampong, Orlu, Kiernan, Mendy (Anau 76), Goldberg (Hill 90), Mills, McCallum. Subs not used: Agyemang, Oyebanjo.

Hungerford Town:

Goalscorers: None

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: None

 

Welling United:

Goalscorers: Mills (61)

Yellow cards: Gibbons

Red cards: None

 

Referee: Daniel Lamport

Assistants: Lisa Benn and Sean Jenkins

Attendance: 220

Welling star player: Danny Mills