We suffered an away defeat in the capital at the hands of Welling United after we were handed a 2-1 loss on Tuesday night at Park View Road.
Our goal did not come until on the verge of stoppage time near the contest’s close, by which time “The Wings” looked likely winners in this Tuesday clash.
Rod Stringer’s side had been in front for almost the entire game, taking the lead in the eighth minute when Riccardo Di Trolio reached his head on the end of a free-kick delivery and found the net.
The hosts then doubled their lead when substitute Zain Walker fired home on the rebound from close-range, effectively sealing his side the points.
Given the South-East-London side’s league position before we travelled to Park View Road, any point achieved that night would have been vital.
Instead, we now sit 12 points behind The Wings, who flew up to 18th with their new tally of 27 points.
To further add to our misery, we sit back at the bottom, 10 points off safety, with the final safe spot occupied by Hemel Hempstead Town.
Understandably, Warren Feeney was “disappointed” after the final whistle, although reassuringly reminded us of our upcoming fixtures, with there being “plenty of football still to play.”
With that in mind, our next fixture is not far away, with promotion hopefuls Dorking Wanderers travelling to our turf this Saturday.
OPENING WOES
Our recent performances understandably put Warren in good spirits before Tuesday night’s game, where he hoped for a positive result against a club he knows well.
But if we needed a small stroke of luck to get our first Feeney-era win under our belt, luck is not what we would get.
In fact our problems began before the match had even started, when Andy Robinson was forced out of the starting line-up whilst warming up before the game.
Though we were able to replace him with the ever-dependable Calvin Brooks, it was the first of two injuries, both described by Warren as “long-term,” that we suffered that night.
Still, we started brightly when Leo Hamblin found Mal Linton, who then twisted and turned before firing just wide of goal.
But if Leo was the spearhead of our first positive action of the game, he was the unfortunate player to start something different at the other end.
Stringer’s side won a free-kick at his expense, the one that would give them the lead.
Gene Kennedy lofted the ball into the penalty area, finding Di Trolio who headed past Will Buse to get The Wings off to a flying start after just eight minutes.
Already 1-0 with a forced change in the warm-up, this was hardly the start we hoped for.
They had the opportunity to double their lead just seven minutes later, when ex-Arsenal youth defender Chiori Johnson blasted a powerful strike from the right that flew just right of Busey’s goal.
Though we would only have to wait another seven minutes ourselves for our next big chance to come, this time via Jake McCarthy who had the ball laid off to him by Corey Jordan on the edge of the box.
Our midfielder, who scored many important goals during his first spell for us, came close to scoring a crucial goal for us when his edge-of-box strike was acrobatically tipped over by Dylan Berry.
But it was approx.10 minutes before added time when the hosts had a long-range chance of their own, teenage forward Theo Alexandrou curling in a sweet strike from the left-sided edge of the box.
The effort on goal looked certain to hit the next, but Busey had other ideas as he delicately tipped the ball over with his right hand.
Then, two minutes later, Busey was called into action once more.
A corner was sent in from the left-hand side and was headed down by Welling skipper Dave Winfield into Di Trolio’s path.
The ball then bounced off the goalscorer and was then pushed away by Busey, before we were eventually able to clear after a goalmouth scramble.
But despite Welling’s recent close calls, we nearly struck back two minutes before the fourth official raised the board.
Winfield headed the ball for the hosts, but straight into the path of Keelan O’Connell, whose first-time strike bounced just inches left of Berry’s goal.
As we headed down the tunnel a goal behind, we had an important second half ahead of us to try and turn the game around.
A NIGHT OF FRUSTRATION
Despite the abundance of opportunities for both sides in the first half, there was very little action seen after the break.
Until Walker’s goal.
Brought on for the injured Alexandrou in the 64th minute, his impact was felt just four minutes later after Busey made the initial point-blank save to deny Kennedy.
Though it wasn’t quite enough to stop all danger, as the substitute slid the ball into the bottom-right corner to give his side a 2-0 lead with 22 minutes of regular time remaining.
However, we continued to show fight as Mal drove with the ball towards the edge of the box nine minutes later.
The striker, who was later chosen as our “Man Of The Match” from that evening, blasted a powerful low strike towards the right corner of Berry’s goal, and may have pulled one back for us had the ex-Norwich shot-topper not smartly pushed the ball away.
Our forward had another chance to put one away four minutes before stoppage time when he once again carried the ball towards goal, this time running into the box as Berry ran a short distance beyond his line to hold firm and keep the ball at bay.
This piece of action, though, only tells half the story, as our striker looked to be pulled back by Teddy Perkins just outside of the penalty area.
Ultimately, Mal appeared unfairly undone due to his honesty.
We did eventually get a much-needed goal just before stoppage time when JT’s low curling shot bounced in off the right post and past Berry.
But our second would never come as we were made to endure a frustrating Tuesday night in the capital…
