Welling set up Boreham Wood FA Cup tie after coming from behind to beat Gosport Borough

BY MARK DOIG

Once again Welling United had to overturn a deficit as they defeated Gosport Borough in their FA Cup third qualifying round replay.

In the first game, on Saturday, despite having controlled large parts of the game, they were moments away from being knocked out but survived with a deserved late equaliser by Tristan Abrahams. Then, in the replay, poor starts to both halves made their task a little harder than it should have been.

David Tarpey had already had a shot beaten out by Ben Winterbottom when Gosport went ahead. Rory Williams sent over a free kick that was flicked on as far as Harvey Rew and he made no mistake from close range.

Gradually, Welling grew into the game and drew level just before the half hour mark. James Vaughan delivered a corner, and Crossley Lema’s header looped over goalkeeper Toby Steward and into the net.

Lachlan Byrd headed over from a Vaughan cross before Steward made a stunning save from a thunderbolt by Antony Papadopoulos that appeared to be heading for the top corner. However, Gosport’s escape was short-lived as from Vaughan’s corner, Welling went ahead. This time, he picked out Jack Burchell, who headed back across for Abrahams to force home from close range.

Papadopoulos was thwarted by another good save before Welling added a third. Lema looked second favourite when chasing a long pass down the line, but he powered his way through the two defenders in his path, and left them in his wake as he eased in before firing low into the bottom corner.

Although Welling kicked off the second half, Gosport should have scored within sixty seconds of the restart when Tarpey was given time to shoot but missed the target. Another corner resulted in a goal in the ninth minute of the second half when Gosport pulled one back through a close range finish by Rafael Ramos.

Hopes that the visitors might have had of levelling were dealt a serious blow when Alex Barsa lifted his arm to handle a high cross. Having previously been cautioned, he was shown a second yellow card and dismissed.

Six minutes later, Abrahams extended Welling’s lead when getting onto the end of an excellent Vaughan through ball and finishing well.

There was no coming back for Gosport after that and Brad Tarbuck was indebted to his own goalkeeper for making an excellent save from what would have been an own-goal.

Abrahams, twice, and Enoch Muwonge, might have added further goals. However, it didn’t matter as Welling cruised home and into the fourth qualifying round with a visit to National League Boreham Wood.

PICTURES: DAVE BUDDEN