Ladies Day at Welling United was celebrated by the team wearing a one-off pink kit for the visit of Kidderminster Harriers, and winning the game 3-0.
By admitting ladies and girls free of charge, the club made the most of the opportunity to raise awareness and funds for Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust.
As important as the cause is, Loui Fazakerley and his team had only one thing in mind, and that was to gain the three points required to keep them in the relegation battle.
He was given an unexpected boost when news came in that Ben Jefford was not banned as expected so only Joe Healy was absent due to suspension.
Although they had an uncomfortable first fifteen minutes that appeared to end with a Kidderminster injury, and once the Wings went ahead there was no looking back.
Twenty minutes had passed when Kieron St. Aimie collected a long pass and shuffled the ball between his feet to give himself room to chip a cross into the area. Jake Gallagher met it with a clean header inside the far post.
Dominic Vose had an effort off target before Welling increased their lead ten minutes before the break. Tireless running by St. Aimie was rewarded when he closed down Danny Lewis and the Harriers’ goalkeeper’s hurried clearance hit the Wings’ striker and flew back into the net.
Skill by Vose twice came close to setting up the third. On both occasions he dribbled along the bye-line. His cut back from the first ended with a Gallagher effort that flew wide. Then from the second, St. Aimie, at full stretch, could only knock it onto the underside of the bar and out for Lewis to collect.
Half time 2-0
After the break, Welling continued to stretch the Harriers defence. Vose hit a fierce shot against the stanchion of the goal frame, but from the wrong side of the near post, then Reece Harris’ effort was kept out by a full stretch Lewis.
Former Premiership striker Lee Hughes showed his frustration when he went right through Vose and was cautioned however he missed the visitors’ best opportunity soon after.
Jonathan Henly was forced into a hurried clearance but Hughes’ first time effort from 35 yards drifted wide of the post.
Fifteen minutes remained when Welling scored the goal that allowed them to relax through the rest of the match. Once again, St. Aimie, prolific in pink, was the provider when collecting skilfully before back-healing into the path of Sam Corne. The outstanding midfielder wasted no time in finishing from twenty yards before running away to celebrate his first Wings goal.
Another Vose first team effort flew over before Fazakerley had the luxury of being able to replace Gallagher and avoid any risk of picking up a yellow card that would have finished his season.
After the game. Fazakerley was delighted, he said: “After the first fifteen minutes, it was an excellent performance from every single body. Just pleased for Kieron as well. It was a great all round performance from him. He should have a lot more fans that he does. He does a lot of the work that goes unnoticed.”
They will now look ahead to Tuesday night’s game at home to Wrexham looking to build on the momentum gained this afternoon.
Welling United: Henly, Williams, Harris, Osborne, Chambers, Jefford, Gallagher (Fagan 81),Corne, St. Aimie, Lafayette (Akinde 81), Vose. Unused substitutes: McEntegart, Berry, Young.
Kidderminster: Lewis, Fry (Reid 18), Grimes, Kelly, Hodgkiss, Boyle (Nicholson 55), Maxwell, Gittings (Spencer 59), Green, Hughes, Wright. Unused substitutes: Obeng, Asante.
Referee: Chris Powell
Assistants: Carl Pearse & Sean Feerick
4th Official: Shaun Barry
Images courtesy of Dave Budden