Although forced to work hard, Welling United were good value for their victory at home to Whitehawk in their Isthmian League Premier Division curtain raiser.

There was only one side who showed enterprise and pushed for the win. Klevis Muca, Whitehawk’s goalkeeper, was by far the busier. In fact his counterpart, Mackenzie Foley, was only required to make one save, and that was in the early stages.

Kamarni Ryan’s shot was beaten out by the Wings’ custodian and the offside flag went up as soon as the Hawks tried to pounce on the rebound.

Dean Gunner jumped to get onto a deep cross but brilliant defending at the cost of a corner stopped him from reaching it. Damaray Anyadike then went on a great run before pulling it back to Ade Azeez and his poke towards goal was well saved by Muca.

Rhys Murphy tried his luck from twenty five yards for the Hawks but was well off target before another Anyadike cross caused problems and Fumnaya Shomotun got goal-side of his marker but was unable to reach it to side foot it home.

Nikolai Krokhin rose highest to meet a corner by Whitehawks’s Sutton United loanee Liam Moore only to head it wide before Chris Arthur’s thirty-five yard drive flew past the post with Muca, another loanee from the Us, a spectator.

Early in the second period, Anyadike’s cross was just too high for Azeez and it skimmed wide off the top of his head. John Ufuah then came on as a substitute for Welling and a good turn allowed him to bear down on goal and his shot from an angle was beaten out by the feet of Muca.

Chances were few and far between as substitutions broke the momentum of the game. However, Welling kept plugging away and got their reward with nine minutes remaining. A corner was knocked out as far as Arthur and when the Welling supporters behind the goal implored him to shoot, he obliged with a low drive that flew through a sea of legs to beat an unsighted Muca.

As the game moved into four minutes of stoppage time, two substitutes combined to double Welling’s lead. Kaan Bennett’s clever flick created space for him and his diagonal cross-shot was tucked home by St. Lucian international Nahum Melvin-Lambert.

Ryan Maxwell’s team are back in action on Tuesday when they travel to newly promoted Leatherhead.

Welling United: Foley; Otseh-Taiwo, Gunner, Bertram-Cooper, Arthur; Miller-Rodney; Anyadike (Ufuah 55), Smith (Blackman 82), Shomotun (Melvin-Lambert 63); Kingsford (Reynolds 73): Azeez (Bennett 63).

Subs not used: None.

Goalscorers: Arthur (81), Melvin-Lambert (90+1)

Yellow card: Bertram-Cooper (25 foul)

Whitehawk: Muca; Bowry, Hall, Krokhin, Belford; Jones (Overy 90), Bolger; Lee, Moore, Ryan (Lambert 65); Murphy.

Subs not used: Chadwick, Booth, Elliott.

Goalscorers: None

Yellow card: Ryan (28 foul)

Referee: Patrick Nixon

Assistants: William Prior and Jordan Rant

Attendance: 927