Following last weekend’s cup encounter, Welling United hosted Whitehawk again, this time with league points at stake.

Although the game was far more entertaining, the end result was the same with Whitehawk claiming victory over their hosts.

After a good start Welling went behind when conceding a soft penalty, not for the first time this season. Danny Mills appeared to go down easily when running across Rickie Hayles. Ahmed Abdulla stepped up and although Chris Lewington saved his initial effort, he followed up to fire the rebound home in the opposite corner.

Their lead lasted just three minutes, however, as Christian Nanetti, on debut, put in a delightful cross that Adam Coombes met with a glancing header.

Lewington made a save from a Chris Assombalonga near post header before Danny Waldren met a Sam Hatton corner but could not keep his header down.

Waldren came close again when Nanetti dummied Hatton’s pass but Ross Flitney got down well to save.

They almost went ahead just before the break when Ali Fuseini sent Coombes away down the wing and his cross was met first time by Nanetti with a volley that flashed just over.

As much as Welling had enjoyed the better of the first period, Whitehawk came out strongly for the start of the second. Assombalonga fired over following a defensive error before they twice came close with deflections taking the ball just wide. First Mike West’s long range effort was sent just wide then Ben Strevens’ free kick clipped the wall.

However, Welling weathered the storm and Waldren had a header saved from Nanetti’s cross.

Hatton came close with a first time effort from another centre from the impressive Nanetti before testing Flitney with a shot of his own.

Six minutes remained when Whitehawk went ahead. There seemed little danger when Assombalonga collected it by the right touchline but he was allowed to come in too easily and fire in a shot. Although his effort was blocked out, it fell kindly to Mills and he rifled home through desperate attempts to block.

Coombes had a late header wide from Lyle Della-Verde’s corner but once again, Welling were left distraught.

Manager Mark Goldberg could not hide his disappointment afterwards “I thought we responded well today (to last week’s defeat) and our first half performance was a very good one. The fact that our heads didn’t go down when the referee gave a penalty, especially the decision. We worked hard. Maybe there were times where I could be a bit critical that we didn’t win the second balls, but on the ball we were very good, created lots of opportunities and we should have been a bit more clinical. Everybody’s so anxious to get the result that we’re not as composed as we should be.

“In the second half, they did have a spell but I still felt that we did enough to not just get a draw, we did enough to have won the game but we seem to not be able to stop ourselves from conceding goals. The first goal, we could have cleared our lines before the penalty. The second goal, we allowed the player to come inside and that was too easy. Instead of getting all three points or even a draw, we end up losing.

“I’m not sure how the fans perceive it but I certainly believe that we’ve got the makings of a side that can win games. We’ve just got to be a bit more ruthless. There’s no doubt we competed against a very good side, who more than likely will finish off in the play-offs.

“Everybody would rather win games than lose games but no-one can say that we’re not playing better football than the opposition. We’re playing good football but we’re not learning how to win games and I know that I’ve got to get that right.

“This season it’s all about building for next season. We want to finish mid-table and build a team that is starting to really gel together. I think we are gelling together, we’re playing well. I do believe that the togetherness will get us out of the trouble that we’re in at the moment.

Welling United: Lewington, Fish, Braham-Barrett, Fuseini, Francis, Hayles, Hatton, Waldren, Nanetti (Johnson 88), Coombes, Della-Verde.

Subs not used: Agu, Leacock, Nelson.

Whitehawk: Flittney, West, Harding, Strevens, Reid, M’Boungou, Abdulla, Southam, Mills, Connolly (Masterton 74), Assombalonga (Aldavert 89).

Subs not used: Rodrigues, Lee, Favarel.

Referee: Christopher Pollard

Assistants: Gerry Heron and Richard Owen

Attendance: 447

Welling star player: Christian Nanetti

Images courtesy of Dave Budden