Welling 2-1 Barkingside

WELLING turned in a mixed performance to stutter past Essex league side Barkingside in the FA Cup on Saturday, writes Sunni Upal.

The hosts started well with Fabian Quintyn being played in by a header from Marlon Patterson in the eighth minute, only to be brilliantly tackled by left back Paul Kavanagh.

The resulting corner, which was taken by captain Richard Carpenter, found the head of player-manager Neil Smith at the far post who guided his effort over the bar.

It took the Wings only three more minutes to take the lead when a clearance from a corner found Marlon Patterson on the left and he played in a near post cross to Chris Moore.

Moore was totally unmarked and coolly guided his header into the far corner.

Welling continued their first-half master class with a sensational second goal.

A 10-pass move from side-to-side and back-to-front ended with Ryan Cottrell's cross from the right finding Ross Montague, who headed home from five yards.

It was a brilliant first-half performance from Neil Smith's side as they showed the vast difference between the Blue Square South and the Essex Senior League.

The Wings then seemed to fall asleep in the second half.

They didn't get out of the blocks at all and credit must go to Barkingside for getting the goal their play deserved seven minutes in.

A long-range drive from Greg Thompson was charged down in the penalty area and fell to Mark Steadman 10-yards out.

He smashed his shot towards Jamie Turner and the recalled keeper was unable to prevent the ball squeezing through a small gap and in to the bottom corner.

The rest of the game was feisty and ferocious with the underdogs pushing Welling, who seemed a shadow of the team they were in the first half.

This was especially noticeable when Montague and Quintyn's communication up front seemed to break down as they were not winning the second balls the same way they had in the first half.

Welling should have added a third goal in injury time when Montague found substitute Lloyd Blackman with his low cross to the near post.

Blackman only managed to scuff his shot on to the far post as the Wings got away with an abject second-half performance, one which they may not have done against better opposition.

Welling: Turner, Cottrell (Green 74), Ryan, Carpenter, Moore, Sinclair, Solomon, Neil Smith, Montague, Quintyn (Blackman 87), Patterson. Subs not used: Powell, Boyce, Nethercott. Att: 436