Despite being barely able to put out eleven players, Welling United stunned Wealdstone with a superb away victory.

Coming into the game, Wealdstone were undefeated in 2019 but Welling’s patched up side put in an excellent performance. Several players had to play out of position but their desire and work-rate has never been in question and every player showed it in abundance in his game.

They were further hampered when Julien Anau injured himself in the warm up. Although he tried to play through it, he had to be replaced in the seventh minute with Zack Newton coming on.

On fifteen minutes, they went behind when Daniel Green converted a penalty after a defender was deemed to have handled.

Some teams might have felt sorry for themselves but Welling manager Steve King would never allow this team to sulk and they went close to equalising when Montel Agyemang’s curler came back off the crossbar.

Caden Genovesi marked his second Welling debut with two important interventions, first a vital block from a shot by Tarryn Allarakhia, then a header off the line from Simon Mehsah’s header.

Gavin McCallum tested Jonathan North with a low drive before  Allarakhia shot over after being rushed into shooting by Genovesi.

Thirty minutes were on the board when Welling levelled. Newton found Bradley Goldberg and he squared to Brendan Kiernan whose shot went in via North and Freddie Grant.

Dan Wilks beat out a shot by Mensah with his feet then soon after he got down well to save from Stefan Brown. Wealdstone finished the half strongly but didn’t create another opportunity before the break.

After the interval Welling came out the more lively and went ahead on fifty minutes. Goldberg collected a pass from Newton and rifled a shot just inside the far post.

Although Wealdstone enjoyed a bit more of the possession, they struggled to create opportunities and Welling looked dangerous on the break. From one of them Newton found Kiernan who had a goal-bound shot blocked before slicing his follow up across the face of goal.

Newton then sent Goldberg away but his cross was just too high for Kiernan to get any power into his header and North was able to make the save.

David Pratt headed over for Wealdstone but again Welling looked dangerous on the break and Kiernan found Goldberg who shot just wide.

They came even closer soon after when Anthony Acheampong’s header from Agyemang’s corner came back off the inside of the post.

It was then Wealdstone’s turn to hit the woodwork when Grant’s header from Green’s free kick came back off the bar.

Goldberg brought a good save out of North before Wilks made a decent one from Brown.

Welling made sure of the points in injury time when Newton held it up well before playing it back to McCallum. He poked it through to Kiernan and he finished in style by lifting it over North.

Wealdstone: North, Sheppard, Grant, Stevens (Tyler 84), Okimo, Poku, Allarakhia, Mensah (Azeez 57), Pratt, Green, Brown. Subs not used: Smith, Paterson, Tyler, Cox.

Welling United: Wilks, Genovesi, Braham-Barrett, Acheampong, Hill, Audel, Kiernan, Agyemang, Anau (Newton 7), Goldberg (L’Ghoul 90), McCallum. Subs not used: Quebe.

Wealdstone

Goalscorers: Green pen (15)

Yellow cards: Stevens, Grant, Sheppard

Red cards: None

Welling United:

Goalscorers: Kiernan (30) (90+), Goldberg (50)

Yellow cards: Acheampong, McCallum, Braham-Barrett

Red cards: None

 

Referee: Robert Massey-Ellis

Assistants: Aurel Onita and Hugh Gilroy

 

Attendance: 811

 

Welling star player: Entire Welling team