Monday 7 February 2005

WELLING United just love visiting the Wessex Stadium.

Last March the Wings effectively ended Weymouth's promotion hopes with a shock victory in the resort.

This time around the Kent club once again condemned the Terras to an embarrassing defeat and made it two home reversals on the spin for the hosts.

The hammering was the heaviest league defeat on home soil since October 2002 for Steve Johnson's hit and miss side.

And Weymouth can have no complaints after a miserable display in which Wings keeper Danny Knowles hardly had to get his knees dirty.

The Terras' pathetic performance caused Johnson to take the incredible step of marching his players over to home supporters and ordered them to apologise after the final whistle.

Central to Welling's success was impressive midfielder Matt Lovell, who notched an early opener.

He combined brilliantly with bustling striker Paul Booth all afternoon as the improving Kent visitors enjoyed a stroll by the seaside.

At the other end, Terras striker and skipper Kirk Jackson was hardly given a sniff by excellent marker Chris Moore.

After last week's heroics at Basingstoke, it was back down to earth with a massive bump for Johnson's youngsters.

The Terras boss made two changes from that win, preferring Roy O'Brien and Lee Phillips to Ian Hutchinson and Matt Bound whose wife was expecting .a baby.

Only 90 seconds were on the watch when Jackson could and should have given Weymouth the lead.

Lee Phillips' flick from Bradley Thomas sent the former Yeovil star scurrying through.

Jackson opted to take the shot early but it skidded wide of Danny Knowles' post.

Byrne, playing through an ankle injury; fired wide from the edge of the box moments later but that was about as good as it got for the Terras.

It took a good recovery from home defender O'Brien to prevent Paul Booth from nipping in after Nicolas Mirza played the Irishman into trouble.

Lovell almost gave the Wings a 14th minute lead when his curler looped against the foot of Matthews' left hand post.

But just four minutes later the same player, who was a bundle of energy in midfield, did find the net to rock the hosts.

Lee Spiller found skipper Danny Slater down the right whose cracking cross was met by the unmarked Lovell to crash a header past Matthews.

Things didn't get any better for Johnson's side after that with some sloppy passing needlessly giving away possession.

After the off form Mark Boyce needlessly gave away a corner, Spiller leapt high to send a header inches wide.

For the rest of the half, fussy referee Mark Adkins made himself the centre of attention. There were more whistles than a series of One Man and his Dog as a constant stream of free kicks interrupted the flow.

Scorer Lovell nearly doubled Welling's advantage just before the break after leaving Boyce for dead, but his shot was easily dealt with by Matthews.

A decent start to the second period was vital for Weymouth but just five minutes after the restart they fell further behind.

After former Welling loanee Bradley Thomas fouled Booth, Moore stole in to head home Jamie Day's deep free kick.

Johnson made a couple of changes moments later, throwing on lan Hutchinson and want away defender Steve Tully.

The former Torquay United man received a mixed reaction from the home crowd, but later won over a few of the boo-boys after a couple of scurrying runs.

Two goals to the good Welling were happy to sit back and soak up the pressure but Weymouth lacked any invention in attack and only Jackson's speculative lob and Phillips spin and shot came close to getting them back in it.

It was no surprise when the Wings made it three with nine minutes remaining.

Thomas was penalised for holding down Booth in the box who dusted himself own and capped an excellent performance by netting the resulting penalty.

That strike saw home fans streaming for the exits in their hundreds with no way back on the horizon.

Those that did stay saw Hutchinson fire just wide late on before Johnson frog marched his players to apologise at the end.

Weymouth : Jason Matthews, Mark Boyce, Charlie Welch, Roy O'Brien, Bradley Thomas, Nicolas Mirza, Danny Byrne, Ludovic Cadima, Kirk Jackson, Darren Wheeler, Lee Phillips

Subs : Simon Browne, Ian Hutchinson (for Byrne 55mins), Kieren Keene, Steve Tully (for Boyce 55mins), Francisco Ramos

Welling United : Danny Knowles, Tony Browne, Ian Wiles, Matt Lovell, James Smith, Chris Moore, Danny Slater, Lee Spiller, Tim Hambley, Paul Booth, Jamie Day.

Subs : Michael Phillips, Charlie Mitten, Lewis Watts, Chris Bourne (for Booth 90mins)

Referee : Mark Adkins (Saltash)

Bookings :

Weymouth : Jackson (foul) 45mins, Mirza (dissent) 60mins, Thomas (foul) 81mins

Welling United : Browne (foul) 42mins