Now that their F.A. Cup and Trophy runs are over Welling United can concentrate on their league campaign.
‘Concentrate on the league’ may be a football cliché but the Vanarama National League South is Welling’s main priority. On Saturday they entertain Hungerford Town in their last home game until Boxing Day.
Their F.A. Trophy run ended on Wednesday evening when they lost their replay away to Dulwich Hamlet. There was controversy in both matches but that won’t show in the record books.
In the original tie last Saturday they were well in control and leading through Matt Paterson’s goal. Then, in the 40th minute Caden Genovesi made a challenge on Nyren Clunis in the penalty area. To the naked eye it looked a clean tackle, who was borne out when watching the video later, but the assistant referee thought otherwise and convinced the man in the middle to award a penalty which Ashley Carew converted.
There were no goals in the second half so Welling had to travel to Dulwich’s temporary home at Tooting and Mircham for the replay. Dulwich came out quickly and went ahead through Nathan Green in the fifth minute.
Gradually, Welling worked their way back into the game and Richard Orlu levelled. Towards the end of the first half in which Dulwich’s Magnus Okuonghae had been booked for kicking the ball away, Brendan Kiernan burst into the area. Although he was pulled back by the arm the referee either failed to see it or chose to allow play to continue.
After the break Okuonghae hacked Nassim L’Ghoul to the ground with a challenge that would warrant a booking in any football. Indeed, he looked ready to walk off but the referee did not even give him a lecture. Dulwich manager Gavin Rose realised that Okuonghae was on borrowed time and substituted him soon after.
Then, when defending a Montel Agyemang free kick Danny Mills was man-handled to the ground by Cheick Toure in the penalty area. The defender did not even face the ball and the offence was ten yards away from the assistant referee but he failed to raise his flag and the referee again ignored all claims.
That proved crucial when, with fifteen minutes remaining, Dipo Akinyemi tucked home the winner.
Steve King will be expecting his team to show their resilience when they host Hungerford who aren’t having the best of seasons. They are currently in the bottom three with twelve points from eighteen games. Away from home, a 3-2 victory at Truro and a 0-0 draw at Hemel Hempsted have given them their only four points from nine games.
However, in their last league game, Billericay Town equalised in the 98th minute to claim a point from them so King will know that anything less than their best could prove costly.
Picture supplied by Dave Budden.