Gravesend and Northfleet  0 – 2  Welling United

Welling Team 

1.   Jordan Busby

2.   Chris Dunphy

3.   Ed Willoughby

4.   Ian Brooke

5.   Joel Thompson

6.   Mark Eaton

7.   Paul Taylor

8.   Josh Smith

9.   Charlie Hookway

10. Charlie Bertuello

11. Rishi Nankani

12. Matt Vitty

14. Richard Stevens

15. Sami Kadri

22.  Ollie Green

Scorers: Chris Dunphy (13) Josh Smith (65)

Welling started really well, pinning the opposition in their own half for the first 10 minutes. Early on some neat football put Rishi Nankani through but he fdailed to score.

On 13 minutes Welling had a corner and Chris Dunphy sent in an inswinging corner which flew straight into the net. It was a really well struck strike and it gave deserved early lead.

Welling continued to press on and Rishi Nankani again forced the keeper into an excellent save, and then had the rebound saved off the line by the Gravesend centre half.

Charlie Bertuello then had a chance on the left side, and put the ball agonisingly wide.

Towards the end of the first half, Gravesend started to come back into the game, but Jordan Busby was confident and safe.

Welling went in at half time one up but with more clinical finishing it could easily have been three.

Half time   Gravesend and Northfleet  0 – 1 Welling United

Gravesend came out all guns blazing in the second half, but Welling held their ground well.  Charlie Hookway saw a good shot saved by the Gravesend keeper. Rishi Nankani was then put through and seemed to change his mind as the keeper advanced and he missed the target.

Welling’s second and decisive goal came on 65 minutes when Josh Smith scored from inside the box, with his left foot.

Gravesend responded by throwing everything they had at Welling but the defence stood firm and it took a magnificent save from Jordan Busby to deny them a way back into the match.   He dived to his right and touched a stinging drive onto the post, and he got up to save the rebound! Gravesend then had a strike but the ball bounced off the bar and Joel Thompson cleared it.

Welling ran out deserved winners and are now guaranteed a place in the knock out phase of the League Cup with one group stage match to be played.

Managers Comments

“Delighted to have qualified for the Quarter Finals with a game to play.  Another excellent performance, but with the clinical finishing that we need to find, we would have won the game by half time. Jordan's second half save was top class.  It shows again how strong and exceptionally good the squad of players are.”