Having inflicted Concord’s only home defeat earlier in the season, Welling United were beaten by them for only their second loss at Park View Road this term.
There was less than one minute on the clock when Concord scored the only goal of the game. Concord kicked off by getting the ball down towards the corner and drew a foul. Danny Green’s free kick was beaten out and former Dover Athletic centre back Tyrone Sterling netted the rebound.
He might have scored again soon after but side-footed across the face of goal when well placed then Jack Midson drew an excellent save from Wilks.
Sam Blackman also had a shot saved before Fraser Shaw had a shot across the face of goal.
Eventually, Welling started to get into the game with Nassim L’Ghoul asking most of the questions. However, he received some pretty rough treatment with minimal protection although one wild challenge did earn Tosan Popo a yellow card.
When Bradley Goldberg was hacked down by Ahmed Abdullah, L’Ghoul’s free kick round the wall was saved at full stretch by Sam Beasant.
Immediately after the break Bradley Goldberg shot well over but Concord looked dangerous on the break and the lively Liam Nash shot wide of the near post.
Once again, Concord mounted a counter-attack and again Nash broke away and fired a shot that came back off the underside of the bar.
Having been crowded out for most of the game, L’Ghoul did find space on the left but didn’t get a clean connection and shot wide.
Another bad challenge by Popo on L’Ghoul could easily have seen him shown a second yellow card
but he escaped further punishment.
As Concord defended deeper they used every tactic in the book to break up play whether fair or foul, ranging from delay in retreating from free kicks to kicking the ball away. Sadly some pretty weak work from the officials allowed them to get away with it.
L’Ghoul was still the greatest threat and he had a shot that took a slight deflection and crashed against the bar. He then had a free kick saved by Beasant.
However, there was still danger on the break and Nash fired over from one of them.
As the game drew towards a close Arnaud Mendy had a shot deflected wide before Beasant made one final save to keep out Brendan Kiernan.
On New Year’s Day, Welling will look to return to winning ways when visiting Dartford.
Welling United: Wilks, McNamara (Newton 77), Genovesi, Mendy, Hill, Audel, McCallum (Kiernan 48), Kissock (Anau 64), Mills, Goldberg, L’Ghoul.
Subs not used: Ijaha, Acheampong.
Concord Rangers: Beasant, Popo, Shaw, Essam, Minshull, Sterling, Green (Pullock 77), Blackman, Midson, Nash, Abdullah.
Subs not used: Moore, Frond, Hunt, Confrey.
Welling United:
Goalscorers: None
Yellow cards: Mills
Red cards: None
Concord Rangers:
Goalscorers: Sterling (1)
Yellow cards: Popo, Abdullah
Red cards: None
Referee: Matthew Russell
Assistants: Daniel Austin and Barrie Small
Attendance: 611
Man of the match: Thierry Audel
Images courtesy of Dave Budden