Having gone in level at the break, Welling would have hoped to take advantage of having the wind behind them in the second period but it wasn’t to be.

Not for the first time this season, failing to defend corners proved costly as both goals conceded by the Wings came when they failed to clear their lines.

There was an early half chance for the Wings but as Rowan Liburd shaped to shoot, Steven James recovered well to make a crucial block tackle.

After nine minutes, the hosts marked their first attack by going ahead. A corner wasn’t cleared properly and Charlie Walker drilled it across the face of goal for Greg Luer to side-foot home.

Looking for an immediate response, Lionel Ainsworth picked out Liburd with a free kick but the tall Welling striker was unable to find the target with his header.

A long range effort from James Hammond flew well over before Welling levelled. Crisp incisive passing ended when Liburd chested down well into the path of Ainsworth and he fired into the bottom corner.

Mitchell Dickenson headed wide from James Ferry’s free kick then the strength of the wind was demonstrated when Reise Charles-Cook’s clearance caught in the wind and came back wide at the expense of a corner.

Luer played Charley Kendall through but Charles-Cook made an excellent save to keep him out and the Welling keeper then had to get down quickly to save a low drive from Charlie Walker.

It was not all one way traffic though and Liburd sent Ainsworth away and he, in turn, found Stefan Ilic but Franco Ravizzoli somehow managed to turn his shot over with his legs.

Hammond had the last shooting chance of the first period but his free kick was straight at Charles-Cook who saved comfortably.

Early in the second half Ainsworth hit a shot that laid out James Vaughan. He then pulled a corner back for Anthony Cook who shot wide from twenty five yards before his cross found Ilic at full stretch who was unable to tuck it inside the far post.

James fired well over for the Sports before Walker missed a great chance when Luer knocked down Dean Cox’s cross but the veteran striker blasted over. Welling’s escape was short-lived though and when a corner was not cleared, Kendall had far too much space and fired home.

That appeared to knock the stuffing out of the Wings and despite making all three substitutions, Eastbourne held them at bay with relative ease to claim all three points.

Eastbourne Borough: Ravizolli, Vaughan, Woolard-Innocent, Ferry, Dickenson, Jamesent, Cox (Rollinson 82), Hammond, Luer, Walker, Kendall (Blackmore 90+). Subs not used: Gravata, Glover, Folarin.

Goalscorers: Luer (9), Kendall (67)

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: None

Welling United: Charles-Cook, Tiawino, Green, Duncan, Headley (Barrington 80), Olagunju, Cook (Snikonbi 71), Hobbs, Liburd, Ilic, Ainsworth (Akinyemi 71). Subs not used: Agyemang, Barrington, Danquah.

Goalscorers: Ainsworth (18)

Yellow cards: Duncan

Red cards: None

Referee: A. Ajibola

Assistants: T. Godfrey and L Donaldson

Images courtesy of Dave Budden