Despite playing attractive football, Welling United were again lacking up front and lost at home to Bath City.

For the third game in a row, they matched their opponents at the very least, but were unable to find the net.

Scott Wilson had an early effort for Bath but although his shot from out wide appeared to be off target, Ben Winterbottom took no chance and pushed it away.

Lewis White shot well over for Welling after being teed up by Antony Papadopoulos then Dominic Odusanya tried to make the most of a Bath clearance that fell into his path and shot into the ground. It looped up and although Ollie Wright had to dive to make the save, it was relatively comfortable.

Nearly twenty minutes were on the clock when the visitors went ahead. Ewan Clark crossed from the right. It was too high for Wilson to head goalwards and he could only flick it on but it fell to Jordan Thomas whose shot from a tight angle flew in off the underside of the bar.

Wilson then blasted over before an argument between staff on the two benches resulted in yellow cards for Welling coach Teddy Bloor and Bath manager Jerry Gill.

Papadopoulos shot wide from long range then Jephte Tanga fired over from a tight angle before the first half drew to a close. Gill, who was clearly riled made straight for the referee, and talked himself into being shown the red card.

Early in the second half, Crossley Lema got in behind, down the right wing, and hit a fierce low drive that Wright could only parry out, but no Welling player was on hand to turn it in and Bath hacked it away.

Thomas headed over from a Joe Raynes cross then Wilson spun and fired over. However, Welling were back on the attack as the game entered the last fifteen minutes. Odusanya met a deep Tanga cross with a flick volley that was blocked then substitute Amadou Kassarate had a shot that Wright could only block out. Again, no Welling player reacted quickly enough and the Romans cleared.

Kain Adom’s thrilling run along the bye-line created one more opening but nobody got on the end of his pull back and Bath were again able to get it away.

In stoppage time, Welling threw men forward and almost got caught on the break. A long clearance over the top found Wilson whose perfectly timed run sent him clear only for him to waste the opportunity by firing over. However, The Wings had one last hope when Tanga worked his way into the penalty area and lost his balance after being tackled. Any hopes of a spot kick were quickly dismissed.

Danny Bloor, the Welling manager, will continue to work to resolve his team’s scoring issues ahead of next week’s F.A. Cup tie at Dartford.

Welling United: Winterbottom, Lema, Green, Vaughan, Byrd, Burchell, Tanga, Odusanya, MacAllister (Adom 73), Papadopoulos (Kamara 73), White (|Kassarate 81). Sub not used: Andrews, Lugboso.

Goalscorers: None

Yellow cards: T. Bloor (coach)

St Albans City: Wright, Raynes, Greenslade, Russe, Dyer, Parselle, Clark, Smith, Cooke (Hayfield 78), Wilson, Thomas (Frear 58). Subs not used: Fletcher, Lines, Morgan.

Goalscorers: Thomas (20)

Yellow cards: Gill (manager), Smith

Red card: Gill

Referee: Robert Ablitt

Assistants: Nathan Briggs and Simon Parberry

Attendance: 681

Images courtesy of Dave Budden