Weston Super Mare 2 Kabba, Pepperell
1. Lloyd Irish
2. Jamie Price
3. Martin Slocombe
4. Ben Cleverley
5. Matt Villis
6. Jamie Laird
7. Kane Ingram
8. Ben Kirk ©
9. Sahr Kabba
10. Brett Trowbridge
11. Nat Pepperell

12. Jak Martin
14. Nabi Diallo
15. Chris Young (Kabba) 75
16. Marc McGregor (Trowbridge) 80
17. Marcus Duharty

Welling United 0

1. Nick Pope
2. Jack Evans
3. Andy Sambrook
4. Dean Cracknell
5. Jack Parkinson (C)
6. Ben Martin
7. Loui Fazakerley
8. Lee Clarke
9. Luis Cumbers
10. Jamie Day
11. Ryan Dolby

12. Warren McBean (Dolby) 56
14. Anthony Acheampong
15. Ben Greenhalgh (Cracknell) 79

Referee: Tim Wood

Welling’s recent poor away form continued as they were defeated by Weston Super Mare on the west coast.

The Seagulls dominated the first half and deservedly took a two goal lead into the break thanks to goals from Kabba and a penalty from Pepperell which the hosts held onto until the final whistle.

Thanks to injuries to Obersteller and Tuna and Joe Healy’s suspension, Ryan Dolby got his first league start of the season with Sambrook moving to left back and Nick Pope returned from Charlton to start in goal. Ben Greenhalgh had finally been granted international clearance and took his place on the bench.

The Wings were pressed back almost immediately from the kick off and the hosts should have taken the lead on five minutes when Kane Ingram shot over from five yards after excellent defending from Day to pressurise the winger.

The hosts continued to pressurise Welling’s backline with little man Kabba’s pace causing problems for Martin. Kirk had a shot from distance creep wide on eight minutes and three minutes later they had the ball in the net from Laird but the linesman spotted a foul on Cracknell in the build-up.

Weston finally were rewarded for the excellent start when Kabba beat the offside trap and unchallenged, smashed the ball away to give the home side the lead.

When Welling did keep the ball on the ground, their passing in the final third let them down and wasted possession. It took them half an hour before their first shot on target courtesy of a speculative effort from Cracknell.

The home side were still in control and make shift left back Sambrook conceded a penalty after tripping Pepperell in the box after the winger had past him on the run. The winger took the kick he had won and duly converted to make the score 2-0.

Both Day and Parkinson were becoming frustrated with referee Tim Wood’s performance with the captain earning a yellow for dissent after numerous complaints before the half time whistle.

In the second half Welling put up much more of a fight with Cumbers and Day both having long shots that hardly troubled Irish in goal.

Warren McBean made his Welling debut coming off the bench in the 57th minute replacing Dolby and almost inadvertently scored his first for the club when a corner rebounded off his shoulder causing Irish to make a good reflex save.

On 64 minutes, Pepperell made a fantastic run on the right hand side dribbling the ball through the motionless Sambrook’s legs and then also driving past Fazakerley but his cross come shot was wide of the post and couldn’t be diverted in by Ingram.

Two minutes and Welling saw their best chance of the game go begging as McBean was played in by Cracknell but was denied by a great save by Irish and the striker couldn’t put in the rebound as the ball looped over the bar.

The chance was to prove costly for the Wings as Weston tightened up their defence and prevented any more decent chances for Welling’s forwards. Ben Greenhalgh finally returned to Welling’s first team on 79 minutes and although he looked lively he couldn’t fashion a chance at goal.

Jack Evans hit a sweet half volley on the edge of the box which sped past Irish but also the far post with two minutes to go but the noisy home fans were never worried their side would squander their lead as they held on for the three points.