Aaron Cosgrave’s second half goal was enough for Welling United to beat Maidstone United in their first league meeting this century.

His fifty-third minute goal following Luke Rooney’s quick thinking was all that divided the two teams.

It was expected to be a tight affair with two teams harbouring play-off dreams, and that’s just the way that it panned out.

There was little goalmouth action in the first twenty minutes as high endeavour trumped quality but eventually Welling carved out an opening. Luke Rooney played a clever ball in behind Luke Pennell and Sanchez Ming cut in. However, the angle was too tight for him and Jake Cole positioned himself well to make the block.

A high kick caught Nathan Green in the head but Adam Coombes fired the resulting free kick over the bar. 

Jonny Edwards had Maidstone’s best chance of the first half when he wriggled into space on the edge of the area but Rob Swaine got a partial block on the shot and Dan Wilks tidied up.

Late in the first half Jay Rich-Baghuelou picked out Cosgrave and he played a clever one-two with Bradley Goldberg but his shot was deflected over for a corner, the first of the game. Green delivered but Swaine was unable to find the target with his header.

Hakan Hayrettin made a change at the break, replacing Edwards with Dan Wishart allowing Justin Amaluzor a more central position.

Immediately after the interval, Maidstone enjoyed their best spell and it took a brave Ming block on the line to stop Iffy Allen from equalising when he got on the end of Gavin Hoyte’s low cross.

However, it was Welling who  broke the deadlock eight minutes into the half. They were awarded a free kick just inside Maidstone’s half and Rooney spotted the defence being slow to set-up and took a quick diagonal free kick behind them for Cosgrave to run onto and fire beyond Cole.

Amaluzor shot wide from twenty-five yards with Wilks scrambling across his goal before a long looping Joe Anderson free kick picked out Swaine but he could not get sufficient power in his header to trouble Cole.

Another long Welling free kick almost worked against them. This time Ming launched it towards Swaine but his header was cleared and it allowed Sam Corne to lead a break however when he got into shooting range he let fly with a shot that went harmlessly wide.

Cosgrave had a chance to finish the contest when he shook off Pennell but Cole was out quickly to block with his legs.

One last half chance came Maidstone’s way when Nana Kyei wriggled his way through three tired tackles but his shot from twenty yards was saved by Wilks diving low to his right.

Victory for the Wings takes them on to four points from two games whilst the Stones are yet to record a point.

Welling United: Wilks, Ming, Anderson, Dymond, Swaine, Rich-Baghuelou, Cosgrave, Rooney, Goldberg, Coombes, Green. Unused subs: Copeland, Anau, Agyemang, Platt. Okosieme.

Goalscorer: Cosgrave (53)

Yellow cards: Rooney

Maidstone United: Cole, Hoyte, Pennell (Chesman 85), Corne, Elokobi, Johnson, Kyei, Khan, Edwards (Wishart 46), Allen (Akanbi 61), Amaluzor. Unused subs: Lewington, Knight.

Yellow cards: Amaluzor, Khan 

Referee: Robert Massey-Ellis

Assistants: Brett Grant and Ayrton Hursey

Attendance:1,050

Pictures supplied by Dave Budden.