Penalties continued to be Welling United’s achilles heel has they crashed at home to Bishop’s Stortford.

Three conceded penalties in two games means they are yet to earn their first point.

One enforced change to the Wings team that lost at Oxford City on Saturday was Harry Crawford missing out as a precautionary measure with Warren Whitely coming in for his first league start for the club.

After a cagey start the visitors had the better of the majority of the first half and Welling had to dig in to keep them out.

However they grew into the game and won four corners approaching half time, scoring from the fourth of them.

Chris Lewington had to be alert to save a deflected free kick with his legs as Bishop’s Stortford enjoyed more of the early exchanges.

Although Sam Hatton had a half hit shot saved by Joe Wright, Welling almost went behind soon after. Tambeson Eyong ran the length of the pitch before cutting back and curling a shot in that clanged back off the far post.

Having apparently weathered the storm, Welling won four corners and from the fourth, went ahead one minute before half time. Hatton delivered and Jamie Slabber headed home at the near post.

There was still time for Paul Rodgers to make two fine tackles to foil Whitely and Oliver Sprague.

Soon after the break, Eyong came close again when meeting a deep free kick at the far post before heading across the face of goal.

Danny Waldren struck a volley cleanly for Welling but straight at Wright who held on comfortably.

On 61 minutes, the visitors equalised when Eyong went on another long run that should have been stopped before firing home from the edge of the box.

From then on, the game became very scrappy with neither side showing composure and both trying to force openings.

A draw looked likely, especially after Lewington made a fine save from Claudio Vilcu in injury time.

Jon Nouble had other ideas, though, and broke into the penalty area only to be brought down. Bradley Woods-Garness stepped up and fired home to earn the three points for the Blues.

Slabber could offer no excuses afterwards. “We weren’t at our best. You could say that it’s a new team, new players,.still gelling. It’s not an excuse. Most players know this level and most players have played higher. Some have come up from the league below but you know non league level and you know what it takes to win.

“When you go one nil up at home, you expect to go for the throat and kill them off. We need to be a bit more street wise on the pitch. A lot of us have been around this non league level for years. It’s not a pretty league. A lot of us weren’t on our game tonight, including me.

“We’ve only played two games. It’s a long old season. Iron out the escapes and we’ll be alright.”

Welling are at home again on Saturday, entertaining Weston-super-Mare looking to get their season up and running..

 

Welling United: Lewington, Nelson, Brown, Corne, Francis, Leacock, Whitely (Smith 54), Waldren, Slabber, Hatton (Joseph-Dubois 68), Sprague (Johnson 72).

Unused Substitutes: Banton, Hayles.

 

Bishop’s Stortford: Wright, Rodgers, Herd, Eyong, Moore-Azille (Furlonge 62), Vilcu, Woods-Garness, Ekim (Auger 76), Benjamin (Nouble 68), O’Neill, Green.

Unused substitutes: Auger, Lovelock, Osei, Furlonge, Nouble.

 

Referee: Alan Dale

Assistants: Ryan Whitaker and Isaac Searle.

 

Attendance: 502

 

Welling star player: Sam Corne

Pictures supplied by Dave Budden.