Once again, Welling United’s character and determination shone through to claim a point against high flying Forest Green Rovers.
It could have been more, but they were thwarted by a late equaliser from former Wing Kurtis Guthrie.
Early on, it looked like it might be a long night for Welling. Darren Carter hit a shot from the edge of the area that Tom King did well to tip over.
Charlie Clough shot across the face of goal and Keanu Marsh-Brown curled an effort wide.
However, having weathered the storm, Welling started to match their visitors in midfield and came close themselves when Rovers’ goalkeeper Johnny Maxted pushed a Xavier Vidal free kick round the post.
Sam Wedgbury twice fired wide from long range before an Elliott Frear cross was met by Jon Parkin with a slow motion volley off target.
George Porter went for the spectacular after the break but was off target.
Harry Lee, back on loan at Welling following his recall over the weekend, put in an outstanding performance and it was his industry and vision that brought about the opening goal.
Having claimed possession in midfield he strode forward before finding the intelligent run of Michael Bakare. The Wings striker checked his run to wrong foot his marker before firing home for his second goal in two games.
King made an outstanding save from Parkin, and it looked like Welling were going to claim all three points before Guthrie’s intervention with eight minutes remaining.
While Welling were waiting to make a double substitution, Frear’s inviting cross was met at the far post by Guthrie’s fierce header that gave King no chance.
Despite a frantic finale, both team’s defences held firm and the points were shared.
“A lot of people before the game would have seen a draw as a good result.” said Wings manager Loui Fazakerley afterwards. “Being ahead, as we were, it’s disappointing to only come away with a draw. It does almost feel like a loss, even though it’s a good point when you look at it.”
Head Coach, Matt McEntegart added “In the first half we struggled a little bit with the midfielders playing a bit deep, gave them too much respect, corrected that towards the end of the first half. We took that into the second half as well. Harry Lee pouncing on a mistake, driving on. Great decoy run from George (Porter), Baks (Bakare) got it onto his left peg and you could see as soon as he hit it, it was going to end up in the net.”
Paul Barnes, coach, was a little unhappy about the equaliser but saw plenty to be positive about. “It was very disappointing the way we conceded, not the cross itself, but how it developed. It’s stuff that we’re working on. From a whole round performance, there’s areas that the lads are really coming on now, you can see the development.”
Welling United: King, Williams, Jefford, Lee, Chambers, Lokko, Vidal, Bakare (Osborne 83), Porter (Adeyinka 64), Wellard, Harris (Kabba 83).
Unused substitutes: McEntegart, Taylor.
Forest Green Rovers: Maxted, Bennett, Jennings, Wedgbury, Clough, Raccine, Sinclair, Carter, Marsh-Brown (Guthrie 55) , Parkin, Frear.
Unused substitutes: Arnold, Pipe, Bender, Kelly.
Referee: John Brooks
Assistants: Andreas Anastasiou and Gary Jerden
4th Official: Carl Pearse
Welling star man: Harry Lee
Attendance: 660
Pictures supplied by David Brown.