Wings soar as wasteful City suffer again

City missed the chance to give themselves some breathing space down near the National League South drop zone this afternoon, going down by a single goal to fellow strugglers Welling United. They dominated much of the game – particularly during the first half – but once again their shortcomings in front of goal proved costly.

Elliott Frear set the tone for the opening 45 minutes when his 5th minute shot was well held by Lovett. Five minutes later the keeper was called into action again, somehow blocking Luke Russe’s close range shot from Scott Wilson’s great cross. The Wings had shown little as an attacking threat but on 19 minutes a long ball forward evaded Jack Batten and Redfearn neatly lifted a shot over Harvey Wiles-Richards. This did little to affect the balance of the game and just before the half-hour mark Jordan Alves’ left-shot across goal looked destined for the corner of the net before Lovett got down brilliantly to divert it wide. The half ended with a melee in the box that saw Danny Greenslade’s shot blocked on the line and Wilson head the rebound narrowly over.

City maintained their control after the interval, with Alves looking their greatest attacking threat. He went down in the box under Crossdale’s 53rd minute challenge, but the referee waved away the penalty appeals, then six minutes later curled a 20-yard shot just wide of the far post. Russe and Wilson both saw efforts blocked as Welling increasingly got men behind the ball and slowed the game down as much as possible. This tactic worked as City struggled to fashion any further clear cut openings, despite winning a number of corners and free-kicks. On another day a couple of goalmouth scrambles may have dropped kindly to a Roman player but it wasn’t to be to leave City empty-handed from their trip to Kent.