Welling Park claimed the Kent FA Junior Cup A trophy after beating Canterbury City Saints 3-1 in a tough game.

The match marked the last Kent FA competition final of the day at the Gallagher Stadium and from the opening seconds of the game Canterbury quickly showed their style of play, putting in heavy tackles from the kick off.

Despite this, it took only four minutes for Welling Park to score the opening goal, following some pressure in their early attacks, David Twin was able to slide a shot past James Prior, giving the designated home side the lead.

Canterbury City Saints quickly came back and after a long throw from Tom Lilley, Ugo Emekwue was unable to keep his close range header down.

Welling Park soon took control of the game and, whilst staying firm at the back, they were able to create some chances for themselves, Ronan Dunphry’s powerful shot flew just wide before a free kick from the midfielder was forced away by Myles Cole for a corner.

Soon their pressure was rewarded when some lacklustre defending allowed Adam Smith to be found in space within the six yard box, allowing the attacker to tap home, doubling his side’s lead.

Smith continued to get into good pockets of space within the box and minutes after his goal a pass from Dunphry found him with a great opportunity to shoot but his first time effort looped over James Prior’s goal.

Canterbury soon gained momentum and, after a good counter attack, resulting in a great shot which from Tom Lilley which Dan Vines was just able to tip around the post.

Welling continued to push forward too and James Prior was only just able to tip over a shot from David Twin, meaning two goals separated the teams at half time.

Canterbury got the second half underway looking to bring themselves back into contention but after a quiet start to the half that looked less likely as Welling looked to play the game out, a shot from Edward Johnson was easily saved before John Pilcher poked a shot in 5 minutes later to give the Saints a chance of working their way back into the final.

Soon after Tom Lilley had a chance to score the equalising goal, but his header at the far post was gathered at the second attempt by Dan Vines.

Despite their best efforts, and some great support, Canterbury just couldn’t get any attacking momentum, Dean Vines shot over from 20 yards and Lilley continued to fight for every loose ball but Welling Park stood firm.

The game was sealed fifteen minutes from full time when, after Jamie Brockman was fouled on the left wing, Adam Fahy’s low, curling free kick found its way through a crowd of players before reaching the bottom corner.

Canterbury continued to search for a goal to get them back into the game and they nearly had one when Edward Johnson’s free kick was cleared into the path of Carl Edwards, whose powerful effort was kept out by Vines and John Pilcher was unable to get on the end of a cross from Johnson.

It got worse for Canterbury with only a few minutes remaining when Adam Fahy was tripped in the penalty area by James Prior, allowing Dan Vines a chance to score his side’s fourth, but he fired the spot kick wide.

But that setback didn’t faze Welling as they stayed strong and, with time running out, they were able to return to north Kent with the trophy.

The Welling Park manager, Bryan Perfect explained how the fourth minute goal helped his team through the game, “We wanted to hit the ground running so the early goal gave us a great boost and we went on to score a second which was huge”

“We were a little worried at 2-1, their main threat came from long throws, but we weathered it quite well and when they scored I thought they’d keep going but we did well to get back into the game”

Welling Park: Dan Vines, Perfect, Cooper, Gallagher, Smith, Dean Vines, Higgins, Twin, Conway, Arundel, Dunphy

Substitutes: Thompson, Minney, Gawle, Fahy, Salisbury

Canterbury City Saints: Prior, Pain, Foster, Cole, Emekwue, Johnson, Winder, Beasley, Lilley, Wells, Pilcher

Substitutes: Barleycorn, Brookman, Edwards, Everett

Referee: Mr S Tunnicliffe

Assistants: Mr J Annandale and Mr V Bottacci

Fourth official: Mr M Bellamy.