Welling crashed to defeat in their first home game of the season.

Visitors Hungerford Town surprised many last season and were in the final play-off position before the early termination. From their performance at Park View Road, it would appear that they are in for another good campaign.

Things don’t look quite as rosy for Welling at present but the campaign is only two games old and Steve Lovell’s young side are still getting to know each other so there’s no cause for panic.

In order to start picking up results, they need to stop giving away cheap goals. It took just nine minutes for Hungerford to take advantage of poor defending by Welling for the first time. James Rusby hurled in a long throw and Simo Mbonkwi was allowed to head home from close range.

Dipo Akinyemi might have levelled when meeting a Huseyin Biler cross but his header was too straight and Luke Cairney made the save.

Kristian Campbell hit a long shot wide before Welling repeated their early defensive error in an almost identical manner. Again Rusby hurled in a long throw and again Mbonkwi was allowed to net from close range,

Ryan Seager had a free kick saved by Murphy Maloney before Ben Allen had a chance to mark his Welling debut with a goal. He dispossessed a Hungerford defender but Cairney was out quickly to block. However, the Hungerford keeper was powerless to stop Welling pulling one back five minutes before the break. A cross was only cleared as far as Dipo Akinyemi and he powered home an unstoppable drive to give Welling hope.

That hope was short-lived, though, as Hungerford restored their two goal lead in the final minute of the half. Bradley Pearce felled Sol Wanjau-Smith in the penalty area and referee Jack Packman awarded the spot kick. Whilst there seemed no argument with that decision, the brandishing of a red card seemed unbelievably harsh.

Seager waited patiently before tucking it away confidently.

There seemed no way back for Welling, reduced to ten men and with a two goal deficit and it got worse ten minutes into the second half when Mbonkwi completed his hat-trick by meeting a cross from Tyler and volleying home emphatically.

To their credit, Welling didn’t throw in the towel but they struggled to break down the well drilled Hungerford defence. Kaylen Hinds came on for his debut and came close to marking it with a goal but Akinyemi’s cross was just out of his reach.

Next weekend, Welling will look to kick start the campaign when visiting St Albans City on Saturday before hosting Concord Rangers two days later.

Welling United: Mahoney, Barnes, Campbell, Durojaiye, Pearce, Ezennolim (Ilic 68), Biler, Stevenson, Akinyemi, Allen (Hinds 65), Krabbendam (Della-Verde 81). Subs not used: Shokunbi, Sinclair.

Goalscorers: Akinyemi

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: Pearce

Hungerford Town: Cairney, Tyler, Angell, Partridge, Emmerson, Rusby, Evans, Willmouth (McGrory 58), Seager (Flood 75), Mbonkwi, Wanjau-Smith (Tavares 46). Subs not used: Smith, Berry-Hargreaves.

Goalscorers: Mbonkwi (9), (29) (55), Seagar pen (45)

Yellow cards: Willmouth, Tavares, McGrory

Red cards: None

Referee: Jack Packman

Assistants: Alan Conn and Joseph Gray

Attendance: 394

Images courtesy of Dave Budden