Consecutive home defeats, both to Whitehawk, have resulted in the end of Welling United’s F.A. Cup hopes and second to bottom of the Vanarama National South.
Last Saturday’s performance was much better but Welling still ended up on the wrong side of the result.In the cup match, Welling put in a lack-lustre performance after conceding the only goal with just three minutes on the clock.
They started well but went behind to a highly contentious penalty. Danny Mills appeared to be already tumbling before connecting with Rickie Hayles’ knee but a spot kick was awarded. Although Chris Lewington saved the additional strike it came straight back out to Ahmed Abdulla and he buried his second attempt.
Wings’ leading scorer equalised with a diving header from Christian Nanetti’s cross a few minutes later and the teams went in level. After soaking up some early second half pressure, Welling looked in control until conceding the crucial second in the closing minutes.
Chris Assombalonga had a shot blocked by Sean Francis but it fell kindly for Mills and he crashed home the rebound.
Mark Goldberg, Welling’s manager, has shown that he is not afraid to take action already this season by moving out under performing players, and bringing in replacements. Head Coach Damien Matthew also left at the end of his six month contract, and former Wings manager, Jamie Day has returned to take on that role.
Goldberg is in the process of taking over as full owner of the club and is also working hard in making improvements off the field of play. He may take advantage of Day’s experience and let him run events on the field on match days so that he can concentrate on other matters. He has stated previously that he would have no worries in sitting and watching from the Directors’ Box if possible.
Their cause has not been helped by a string of injuries. Goldberg did not use that as an excuse as he felt that the starting line up was good enough to win the game. He was more concerned about the depth of the squad and said on Saturday. “We didn’t have the ammunition on the bench today. We have players like Pierre Joseph-Dubois who’s done it for me for many years at this level and above, who will hopefully be back from injury next week.
“We have Harry Crawford who’s an experienced player, not just at this level but the level above who’s again just recovering from an injury problem. We’ve got Dan Walker who’s not just an experienced player at this level, but at the level above. He’s also got problems with his knee following an injury in the London Cup the other night.
“And then on top of that, we’ve got Dean Morgan who’s an experienced football league player, who’s been playing very well for us but tweaked his hamstring in the game last week. So four very good experienced players who we would have had available for us, who knows, might have turned the bad fortune into good fortune.”
Only Joseph-Dubois has a realistic chance of returning on Saturday for Welling’s visit to 9th placed Wealdstone. Their home results have been mixed having won two, drawn two and lost two so Welling will hope to mount a successful raid on the team that could include two former Wings, Sahr Kabba and Ricky Wellard, in their line up.
Picture supplied by Dave Budden.