Tonbridge Angels 1 Welling United 0

Match 119/21/1983 - Saturday, 2nd April 2022 - National League South

Tonbridge Angels (1) 1 Wood 14
Welling United (0) 0
Attendance: 1,027
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 38/6,851

This was no classic, even as a supporter of the winning team I wasn’t blind to the fact that it had been a terrible watch, but in a relegation scrap, what else could have been expected?

With a recent change of manager and a huge influx of new players, Welling had the look of a bunch of strangers and with a run-in that looks horrendous, they need to get to know each other and very quickly if they are to avoid the drop.

From a Tonbridge point of view, it wasn’t pretty but it was job well done and that is all that matters right now. The announcement this week that the laying of a 3G pitch is going ahead in the summer makes retention of their National League South status absolutely imperative.

Two nervous sides completed the opening 10 minutes with neither side wanting to make the first error. A ninth minute through ball from Tom Beere saw Welling goalkeeper Coniah Boyce-Clark advance beyond his area to clear, but four minutes later it was an error from the Wings keeper that gifted the Angels their opening goal. Tommy Wood moved the ball on from a long clearance into the path of Joe Turner whose low shot squirmed from the keeper’s grasp onto a post where Wood was on hand to touch home the rebound.

Welling forced a succession of corners through the half but Tonbridge defended them without too much alarm.

Just prior to the break, the ball fell kindly on the edge of the box to Tonbridge’s Beere but his shot was high and not too handsome.

The second period saw the Angels with a far greater share of possession and the better of the chances. Turner saw his 46th effort well saved by Boyce-Clark and a 58th minute corner saw Perkins' header safely into the goalkeeper’s hands.

Welling’s best chance of the game came on 66 minutes when Dipo Akinyemi’s cross begged a touch but eluded Harvey Bradbury.

Good combination work from Wood and Coombes saw the latter’s shot deflected away for a corner and when Wood broke clear with 10 minutes remaining, Boyce-Clark blocked the first effort and also the follow-up attempt from Coombes.

Tonbridge saw the game out with little alarm to accrue the three vital points that seems them now six points clear of their visitors, which gives breathing space, but that is all it is.