Wings brought back down to earth after 4-1 defeat to Braintree Town
BY MARK DOIG
Having ended their winless run on Saturday, Welling United were brought back down to earth at Braintree Town in a Tuesday evening National League South match.
Poor first-half defending cost them dearly and they were well beaten to end their five-match unbeaten run. In their two previous home games, Braintree had registered four goals and they extended that sequence with four more strikes against the Wings.
Josh Chambers had an early shot for the Wings that was saved by Josh Blunkell as they started brightly however they went behind in the seventh minute when failing to clear. It fell to Gio Crichlow whose shot was blocked and Shaquille Coulthirst forced home the rebound.
Coulthirst and Aaron Blair both had shots saved by Javarn Pitterson before the Iron scored again. Crichlow sent Blair through and he converted comfortably.
Matthew Ward shot beyond the far post before he got his name on the scoresheet. Blair again got behind the Welling defenders easily before squaring for Ward to finish from close range.
Tristan Abrahams hooked over after Taylor Curran had headed down a Cameron Green free-kick as Welling manager Danny Bloor prepared a substitution. Jack Burchell replaced Chambers as Welling went to three centre-backs and wing-backs to combat Braintree’s attacking formation with a front three.
Jephte Tanga drew a brilliant save out of Blunkell but it wouldn’t have counted as an offside flag was up, then Abrahams free-kick from 30 yards went just over.
Four minutes after the break, Dominic Odusanya pulled one back with an excellent shot into the bottom corner.
Welling came close to scoring again when Kain Adom sent Antony Papadopoulos clear down the right hand side and his diagonal shot beat Blunkell but came back off the far post.
Papadopoulos hit a low shot wide after excellent hold-up play by Abrahams as Welling continued to strive for the second goal that might have made the hosts edgy.
Substitute Will Wood hit a clean shot from the edge of the area with 15 minutes remaining but Blunkell pulled off another fine save. However, as time ran away, the hosts added a fourth. A quick free-kick gave Ward time to line up a shot and he struck it beautifully into the far corner from 25 yards.
Bloor’s Wings will look to get back to winning ways in the FA Trophy on Saturday when they host Taunton Town.
PICTURES: DAVE BUDDEN
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