Welling United beat Braintree Town 1-0 in National League South

BY MARK DOIG

Clear cut goal chances were at a premium at Park View Road when Welling United hosted Braintree Town.

Having beaten Chippenham Town in an entertaining game seven days earlier, Welling had to dig in to keep out a very direct Braintree to claim another three points to launch them up to 14th in the National League South standings.

Knowing that they were likely to encounter an aerial bombardment, Peter Taylor played a back three and he was proved right as long throws and corners were the main forms of attack from the visitors. These were repelled well by Brad Pearce, Dylan Pepe and Teddy Perkins in the first half and then by Olu Durojaiye, who dropped back when Perkins was injured for the second period.

However., as well as they played defensively, they struggled to create much up front and scored with the only real piece of quality in the game.

Jack Sims, the Welling goalkeeper, beat out a Harry Hope shot early on but Correy Davidson, Femi Akinwande and Nathan Bertram-Cooper all failed to hit the target with half-chances.

Midway through the first half, Welling scored the all-important goal. They worked it out to Aaron Barnes and he surged forwards before his inch perfect pass put Ade Shokunbi clear and he wasted no time in slotting it home between William Johnson’s feet.

Alfie Payne hit a shot that lacked power straight at Sims before Perkins sustained an injury when Akinyemi fell on him, meaning that he could not continue.

Payne hooked wide unconvincingly then Matt Johnson shot over from distance before the first half was drawn to a close.

If there was a lack of penalty area action in the first 45 minutes, it became even more sparse in the second period and the major point of conversation was a flare up after an ugly challenge by Davidson on Barnes. When it all calmed down, and the referee had spoken to both assistants, Pepe and Davidson were cautioned.

Daniel Carr shot directly at the Braintree goalkeeper in the latter stages but they had one last opportunity in injury time. It came to Akinwande but Sims reacted quickly to cut down the angle and make the save.

Welling travel to bottom club Hemel Hempstead Town next week looking to extend their winning run.

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