One Woking goal was enough to end Welling United’s ten game unbeaten run and end their hopes of reaching the first round of the F.A. Cup.

Steve King, Welling’s manager felt that the game changed due to the referee’s inconsistency. “He’s given yellow cards out for nothing tackles in the game.”he said. “He’s booked their number four after his fifth challenge in the game and he’s booked our ones after one. It’s changed the game completely.

“It’s put us down to ten men. They put the pressure on, then they scored from a set piece. I think that the game was pretty even. We had a couple of chances. Craig Ross has made a couple of decent saves. They had a couple of chances but I think it had a draw written all over the game. Both sides pretty much cancelled each other out in my opinion.”

Disappointed with the dismissal of Julien Anau, King continued “He wasn’t even going to send him off. He was going to talk to him but the minute everybody started getting round him he changed his decision. He changed his mind.”

Apart from the sending off issue, King also felt aggrieved that Welling were not awarded a penalty. “Could we have had a penalty in the first half when Mills’ gone over?” he asked. “I felt so but they let it go because we had a shot on goal which is nonsense.

“Does that mean if we didn’t have that shot on goal, then it’s a penalty? What’s the rule? Millsy in my opinion from where I was got fouled and they’ve let it go because we’ve had a shot.”

There was no issue about Welling’s efforts though. “We gave everything.” said King. “There were times when we were on top of the game. The only time I thought that they were on top of the game was when we went down to ten men.

“We kept our shape. We had to go to 4-4-1. They huffed and puffed but didn’t really get near our goal and then they popped up with a set piece and scored from that set piece.”

Absentees didn’t help Welling’s cause but King wasn’t prepared to make that an excuse. He said “This team is more than about a Jack Jebb or a Coombsy. Any team’s going to miss a Coombsy and a Jack Jebb.

“Jack is out for the season so it is what it is. Jack’s been fantastic. He’s had eleven assists and scored five goals. Of course we’ll miss him. We’ll miss him on deliveries and set-pieces. It’s part of the game. We’ll have to soldier on. It’s not going to break what we’re doing.”