Sometimes a team might get away with one or two players having an off day.

Rarely does one escape defeat when five or six players are having an off day. Although it took 82 minutes for Whitehawk to claim the winner, it was always coming, and there could not be many complaints about the outcome.

It was always going to be difficult to replace Adam Coombes and Christian Nanetti, the replacements aligned to curious team selections left Welling supporters scratching their heads in wonderment.

In fairness, Welling didn’t have a poor first forty five minutes and registered nine goal attempts to the hosts three, but they didn’t cause too much anxiety to Hawks’ goalkeeper Lucas Covolan.

Other than an an Alex Cathline header that struck the bar, Welling rarely looked like scoring and but for Jordan Brown’s last ditch clearance, they would have gone behind. Danny Mills broke clear and rounded Chris Lewington only to see Brown make a great recovery to clear off the line.

After the break, Welling failed to create anything playing up the hill. They did not register a single goal effort or corner in the second period.

Josh Passley missed a great chance then Matt Fish made a crucial block to stop Ibrahim Adediran-Akanbi from putting Whitehawk ahead.

Danny Mills finished when a free kick was knocked on to him but the goal was ruled out as he had strayed into an offside position.

At the other end an offside Danny Waldren struck the bar but Welling were soon under pressure again when Ramon Marimon-Aldavert was off target from Passley’s corner.

Alex Osborn was fortunate to escape an early bath when, having already been cautioned he pushed Crawford in the chest with both hands.

Shortly afterwards, Whitehawk’s pressure paid off when Frankie Sutherland executed a perfect free kick that gave Lewington no chance.

Michael Thalassitis was the second player to escape a red card when frustration got the better of him and he appeared to strike Dan Harding on the back of the head.

It made no difference to the outcome as Welling were left in a position where further poor results could see them back in strife.

 

Whitehawk: Covolan, Passley, Harding, West, Marimon-Aldavert, Reid, Torres, Southam (Sutherland 69), Mills, Adediran-Akanbi, Osborn.

Subs not used: M’Boungou,  Faverel, Shepherd, Hyde.

 

Welling United: Lewington, Fish, Brown, Fuseini, Hayles, Francis, Karagiannis (Walker 55), Waldren, Slabber (Kathline 17), Thalassitis, Murrell-Williamson (Crawford 55).

Subs not used: Leacock, Richards.

 

Whitehawk

Goalscorers: Sutherland (82)

Yellow cards: Southam, Osborn, Adediran-Akanbi.

Red cards: None

 

Welling United:

Goalscorers :None

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: None

 

Referee: Marc Whaley

Assistants: Marc Meeten and Edward Turner

 

Attendance: 370

 

Welling star player: Jordan Brown

Pictures supplied by David Brown.