Although they continue to improve, Welling United again shot themselves in the foot by conceding a penalty with eight minutes to go against Billericay Town.
Three times in four games they have made lives hard for themselves. They conceded a needless penalty on the stroke of half time against Chelmsford City before collapsing to a bad defeat. They gave away another one at Concord and had to come back and get a draw, then against Billericay, they did it again to drop two points.
However, as disappointing as that was, it should not detract from the fact that they are improving with every game.
Matt Everitt came in for a debut on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion and he came close early on with a shot that Dion-Curtis Henry pushed out and recovered to claim as Rowan Liburd closed in.
There were just five minutes on the clock when the visitors went ahead. Kyel Reid went on a mazy run and fired into the bottom corner, giving Reise Charles-Cook no chance. Lawrie Wilson then sent a cross towards the far post but Josh Hutchinson lacked conviction and failed to make a decent connection.
After that, Welling started to dominate. Anthony Cook had a huge shout for a penalty when he appeared to have been brought down but only a corner was awarded. Lyle Della-Verde sent over a delivery that Lewis Hobbs met with a header back to Nathan Green and his header down flew back up and hit the underside of the bar but did not cross the line.
Della-Verde had a shot deflected that looped up but Henry got back to tip over. Cook then hit a free kick from a tight angle that just missed the far post before the visitors broke and former Wing Luke Wanadio was sent away. Charles-Cook was out quickly to block his shot then Hutchinson, following up, was also thwarted by the Welling goalkeeper.
Eight minutes before the break, Welling levelled. Cook was again felled in the area and this time a penalty was awarded. Cook got up and converted confidently.
Everitt went on another thrilling run but his pass got caught under Liburd’s foot and he couldn’t get a shot away then a corner was half cleared but Cook’s clean strike on the follow up went wide.
Three minutes into the second half, Welling went ahead. Della-Verde again picked out Hobbs with a deep free kick and his header back was met by Liburd for his first Welling goal.
The Wings continued to press and Everitt arrived late to meet Della-Verde’s corner but Henry got down well to make the save. Everitt then fired over at the end of a great move that involved Ryan Blackman and Della-Verde.
Still searching for the third goal, Cook blasted over after another corner was half cleared then Everitt got the better of Michael Chambers and laid back to Della-Verde. His shot took a deflection that left Henry helpless but it flew just the wrong side of the post. Cook then went on a run that took him past three or four defenders, but he was falling as he shot and it went wide.
Billericay started to come back into the game and Jake Robinson missed an outstanding chance when sent clear by Shamir Fenelon but he shot beyond the far post. Hutchinson got in behind but volleyed wide but the visitors weren’t to go home empty handed and were awarded a penalty of their own when Robinson was brought down. He took the penalty himself and made no mistake.
There was one last half chance for Welling when the outstanding Ade Shokunbi angled across the face of goal but just out of the reach of Everitt.
Welling United: Charles-Cook, Cook, Green, Beeden, Hobbs, Olagunju, Shokunbi, Blackman, Liburd (Ward-Cochrane 75), Della-Verde (Azeez 75), Everitt.
Subs not used: Akinyemi, Ilic, Headley..
Goalscorers: Cook pen (37), Liburd (48)
Yellow cards: Cook
Red cards: None
Billericay Town: Henry, Wilson, McLean (Reason 40), Felix, Henry, Chambers, Hutchinson, Knott (Fenelon 65), Robinson, Wanadio (Olusana 62), Reid.
Subs not used: Knight, Fenelon, Soares Jnr.
Goalscorers: Reid (5), Robinson pen (82)
Yellow cards: Chambers
Red cards: None
Referee: Steve Hughes
Assistants: Michael Haydon and Howard Collins
Pictures supplied by Keith Gillard.