Welling United 1 v Wealdstone 2

Just after Midday yesterday, I wandered down Harvey Gardens and up to the bookies on Charlton Church Lane. The sun was shining and I stopped on numerous occasions to shake hands and exchange Charlton updates with old faces as well as to nod to many others I know less well but know nonetheless. Some were heading off to the Anchor and others to the Oak and I was sorely tempted but I had agreed to be at Park View Road for my first Wings match of the season. My Duchatelet boycott remains intact but I am unsure I can sustain it for much longer as I am increasingly of the opinion that I am missing it much more than Duchatelet is my money and it's failed thus far to influence him in the right direction.

I made the Wings bar by 2.15pm and enjoyed a couple of pints with stalwarts Tony and Bobby before we took our place on the steps behind the visitors goal that the Wings were attacking in the first half. My expectations were low. Welling had changed 90% of the squad during the Summer and manager Steve King, who engineered the play-off finish, had been replaced by owner Mark Goldberg. Goldberg has played manager previously and it didn't go too well but perhaps after watching King for a season he now feels he can emulate him. Results have been mixed thus far and the Wings are languishing in the bottom-half of the table.

However, the opening forty-five were a pleasant surprise. Wealdstone countered well which made me think that their early season success may have been built on speed and accuracy. The fact is though, Welling had so much possession and did so much pressing that counter-attack was the only option Wealdstone had. 

The Wings midfield was lead by the deep-lying Theo Widdrington who was rightly awarded man-of-the-match. His promptings in front of the giant pairing of Rob Swaine (Captain) and Ejiro Okosieme freed Cook on the left and McCallum on the right to raid with Coombes and Goldberg leading the line.

The opening chance fell to Coombes who timed his run to meet a free kick in from the right perfectly. Swaine and Okosieme had drawn the taller defenders a few yards further back so Coombes rose unchallenged to direct his header wide of the imposing Oxborough in the Wealdstone goal and inside the far post. Oxborough though moved quickly to his left and was airborne when he managed to paw the effort out. 

Anthony Cook cut in and flashed an effort over the bar as well but their weren't too many other clear cut chances. For their part, Wealdstone managed a low flashing drive that beat Wilks but also the far post. 

Into the second-half and attacking the Park View Road end, I anticipated a Wings opener but it didn't come. Oxborough kept out another Coombes effort (offside in any event) and when finally beaten buy an excellent low drive from Widdrington, we had to watch his effort curl away from Oxborough's finger-tips and thud against the upright. 

Wealdstone then scored from a corner in front of their 100-or so fans. Wilks blocked the initial header but the ball fell to a blue shirt to fire home from close range. Nil-one and Welling stepped it up but before they could equalise, a second for Wealdstone settled the result. Coombes did smack a penalty in off the bar for 2-1 but the table-toppers had done enough. The home fans weren't too happy and some complained about a lack of effort from Coombes and Cook which I thought was harsh and also of Goldberg's decision to withdraw Widdrington at 2-0 which didn't look like the right move. 

Back home before 6pm and I stopped with a few old faces outside the Oak to hear about Charlton's predictably disappointing Centenary performance against the Blues. Lyle Taylor may have made the difference but no-one else stepped up and my guess is Taylor will be out for the rest of this month and maybe October too. An early sign maybe of how much he will be missed if he leaves in the January transfer window.