Defences took the honours as Welling United and St Albans City cancelled each other out.

Although the Wings enjoyed more of the possession and territorial advantage for the first half, the second period was more even until the final fifteen minutes when the visitors looked the more likely to score a winner.

Adam Roscrow was introduced for his Welling debut to try and resolve their goalscoring issues but his debut ended after just over ten minutes. He stretched to keep it from going out for a goal-kick and collided with Sam Brown and went down in pain. After receiving treatment, it was clear that he would not be able to continue and he was replaced by Alex MacAllister.

When play resumed, James Vaughan’s deep corner was headed back across goal by Lachlan Byrd and fell to Jack Burchell but he couldn’t get any power on his shot and Michael Johnson saved easily.

Cameron Green then sent over a superb cross-field pass to send Jephte Tanga in behind Brown and he eased in and let fly but his effort flew beyond the far post.

At the other end, Andronicos Georgiou fired well over before Welling created another opportunity. Green’s pass down the left was flicked on by Lewis White to wrong-foot the St Albans defence and send James Vaughan bearing down on goal. He tried to slide it past Johnson but shot too straight and it was held comfortably.

White was again in the thick of it when making space for himself, however, although his shot was cleanly struck, it was hit directly at Johnson who held on well.

As the first half drew to a close, Welling goalkeeper Ben Winterbottom was called into action for the first time when bursting out quickly to block tackle Jack James who had worked his way through.

Early in the second half, Georgiou controlled it well on the right wing and cut in only to fire over with his left foot. Welling then had another opportunity when White’s trickery drew a foul on the edge of the area. Although Vaughan’s free kick was on target, Johnson read it and made a low save.

Tanga came close to breaking the dead-lock just after the hour mark when his left footed drive went just the wrong side of the far post with Johnson beaten.

Winterbottom made a straight-forward save from a James daisy-cutter then Giorgio Rasulo sent a free kick over as the Saints started to threaten. However, Welling had a big shout for a penalty when Kain Adom chased a clearance and appeared to be tripped in the area.

In the closing minutes, the visitors came close to nicking all three points. Winterbottom got across well to parry a well struck free kick by Welling nemesis Shaun Jeffers. James followed up but his effort was blocked. Then goalmouth pinball in the Welling penalty area ended when Byrd made a close range block with his face before it was cleared.

Both managers may have felt that their team should have won, but a draw was probably a fair result.

Welling United: Winterbottom, Lema, Green, Vaughan (Kassarate 80), Byrd, Burchell, Tanga, Odusanya, Roscrow (MacAllister 11), Papadopoulos, White (Adom 73). Sub not used Olomowewe, Kamara.

Goalscorers: None

Yellow cards: Papadopoulos, Tanga

St Albans City: Johnson, James, Brown, Smith, Wyatt, Clark, Rasulo, Blackman, Giorgiou (Jeffers 78), Weiss, Fage (Lawal 57). Subs not used: Dunn, Carlyle, Da Silva.

Goalscorers: None

Yellow cards: James, Wyatt, Brown

Referee: Ayrton Hursey

Assistants: Dane Johnston and Daniel Doyle

Attendance: 541

Images courtesy of Dave Budden