Welling United’s Under 16s made it double delight by picking up the Kent Cup on Sunday afternoon.

The Park View Road club had seen their Under15s win the silverware in the morning, a solitary second half goal from Macey Malyon secured a backs to the wall triumph in their final with Maidstone United in which the Stones were left wondering what they had to do to score following a goalkeeping super show from Wings stopper Jordan Phillips.

“Says it all when we lose a Cup Final and the opposition keeper’s man of the match,” said Maidstone boss Mark Taylor after the game.

Shrugging his shoulders with a rueful smile, he told KSN, “It’s our third year in the Cup Final and it’s the best that we’ve played I can tell you.”

“We were dominant and played really really well – couldn’t take our chances but fair play to them; they took theirs and took it well.”

“All credit to Welling, I think they put their bodies on the line and were blocking everything. How can I ask any more from my players – I thought they were fantastic – it was one of those days, but hey, that’s football isn’t it?”

Undoubtedly the best Cup Final in the Kent series so far this season, both sides deserve tremendous credit and praise for a pulsating game which kept yet another decent crowd totally enthralled from first to last.

The Stones should really have known that it wasn’t going to be their day as they dominated the first half without finding a way past the sensational Phillips, who was rightly named Man of the Match…

Bradley Taylor was the first to test Phillips with a low drive that the keeper did really well to fingertip round the right post.

Dylan Jones then shot wide when well placed before Jonathan Tumbler was denied by Phillips – this time the Welling keeper made a brilliant save away to his left.

Taylor was then denied again by Phillips as Maidstone turned the screw still further – the Welling keeper must have by now thought he was in a shooting range!

Even when Phillips was beaten his goal seemed to bear a charmed life as just before half time, James O’Haloran’s deflected drive left Phillips completely flat footed as it looped inches over the bar!

After all their pressure, the Stones were so close to being behind at the break as Charli Crane-Howard’s free kick was magnificently clawed away by keeper Mark Gill only for a sliding Theodore Osinfolarin to divert the ball into the side netting.

The second half began as a much more even contest, and low and behold, the opening goal duly arrived – and after all that pressure, it came for Welling United as Macey Malyon beat a couple of players on the edge of the box before firing the ball beyond Gill and into the net sparking wild scenes of Welling celebrations.

Surely given all their pressure, Maidstone would find what now would be an equaliser.  A free kick was played into the Welling box, which Phillips could only push up into the air and was so thankful that the ball dropped on top of the cross bar and behind.

Things then got worse for the Stones as they lost their influential skipper Tom Lindsay who collapsed with knee ligament problems without a player being anywhere near him and had to be carried off.

“I hope that he’ll be OK,” said boss Taylor, “I think he twisted it and just went down. I’m a bit concerned about it if honest as he’s done it before. The plan is not for him to go to hospital and we’ll have a look at him back at the club.”

Maidstone continued to create the chances – Taylor drove the ball across the face of goal after Mitchell Uings had done well down the left before Phillips made yet another fantastic save to deny Jones – but they could not find a way through, and when the whistle blew, players of both sides collapsed in pure exhaustion after what had been a terrific game.

After Welling boss Dean Bresnahan admitted to KSN, “I’ve got to be honest, I don’t think that we were the best side today!”

“We showed fantastic spirit as we’ve shown all season. They did well – they battled for each other as Maidstone really put us under the cosh.”

“Jordan (Phillips) was great wasn’t he?  He was released by Millwall and came back to us, and boy did we need him today, and was fully deserving of his award.”

“The goal was a clinical finish – I’m just glad that it was one chance and one goal today!”

“It’s been a fantastic tournament to be involved in, and to get to the final and win it against a superb side like Maidstone really is the icing on the cake!”

In a great touch at the presentation Tom Collins, the Welling captain who missed the final after being injured training with the club’s under 18s, collected the trophy hobbling forward in his suit.

MAIDSTONE UNITED – Mark Gill, Sam Fairweather-Oates, Jonathan Tumbler, Tom Lindsey, Bradley Taylor, Dylan Jowes, Marvin Armstrong, James Ohaloran, Archie Wrigglesworth, Ellison Rago, Jack Richards

Subs – Izak Johnson, Joseph Gravenell, Ryan Golding, Mitchell Wings, Jardel Kamara

WELLING UNITED – Jordan Phillips, Bradley Greenfield, Luke Bresnahan, Macey Maylon, Nicholas Mesa, Matt John, William Beavill, Theodore Osinfolarin, Ben Fitchett, Femi Ogunbayi, Charli Crane-Howard

Subs – Ben Woodland, Charlie Busby, William Glover, Francis Casey, David Dwamena

 

Referee – Zack Moules

Assistants – Steve Rowedder & Bradley Longergan

Pictures supplied by www.psp-images.co.uk