Eastleigh 1-3 Welling Utd.

EASTLEIGH V WELLING

SATURDAY 19TH AUGUST 2006
Conference South

After starting the game very well and getting the early lead, Eastleigh threw away the game two soft goals and a controversial free kick courtesy of the assistant referee!

The Spitfires had their first attempt on goal through a Jason Dodd free kick 25 yards from goal. The ball flew over the wall with good pace but in the end it was a comfortable save for Jamie Turner diving low to his left.

In the very next minute of the game, Eastleigh played their best passage of football that was seen throughout the whole game. With the obvious lack of out and out strikers available, Martin Thomas again lined up in unfamiliar territory as a striker after having such an impact in the 2-1 win over Hayes. It was Thomas that started the move as he linked up with Dave Town before chipping the ball in to the right for Danny Smith who helped the ball on to the tricky Darren Wheeler. Wheeler sidestepped two challenges before creating room for the shot, although despite doing everything right his curling shot ended up going agonisingly close. The lovely flowing move deserved a better outcome.

Eastleigh’s next attack led to the opening goal of the game. Dave Town fed the ball through to Steve Forbes, the Hayes match winner, and in one movement he eased his way into the box, picking his spot in the bottom corner to grab his second goal in successive games to wrap up excellent build up play from the home side.

Barely a minute later, Welling grabbed an equaliser and this proved to turn the game on it’s head in an instant. Matt Bodkin burst into the box and was allowed time and space to get in a cross. The ball sat up at the back post for Che Stadhart who applied the finish as Welling pegged their opponents back in an instant.

Within the next moments of play, it was evident Welling were becoming more and more of a threat and looked set to go one step further and take the lead. Another shaky moment for the Eastleigh defence saw Welling do just that with a goal from Des Boateng. Eastleigh failed to deal with a corner ball from the right and this cost them dearly as it fell to the edge of the box for Boateng who lashed the ball through a crowd of players, who no doubt narrowed Paul Musselwhite’s vision in the Eastleigh goal, and into the back of the net from 18 yards out.

After such a lively start to the game, surely things would begin to calm. Not so, Martin Thomas could easily have been given a penalty kick and on another day it probably would have been judged as a foul, as the stand in striker was shoved in the back by a Welling defender. The referee had a clear view of the incident but saw nothing wrong with the challenge.

In fifteen minutes of mayhem Eastleigh fell further behind. Jamie Day scored direct from a free kick for Welling’s third goal, as Paul Doswell’s side began to crumble. Quite what the free kick was given for in the first place is any one’s guess!

The free kick decision only added to Eastleigh’s frustration and this began to show in their performance as the tackles started to fly in from left, right and centre.

After looking below par at the back, things were not much better up front as the lack of firepower was again very noticeable. Still, with Andy Forbes close to a return and Jefferson Louis back from suspension for the match at Dorchester, things in this department will improve massively.

In this fixture last year, David Hughes scored a memorable volley from distance and the former Southampton man came very close to repeating this with another stunner only to be denied by a top save from Jamie Turner.

HALF TIME – Eastleigh 1-3 Welling

On the back of a disappointing first half, Eastleigh came out looking slightly better and could have pulled a goal back one minute into the second 45. A perfectly weighted pass from Danny Smith saw Dave Town bring the ball down, skip past his marker and fire a shot on target – all that was missing was a goal.

Eastleigh goal scorer Steve Forbes also came close to reducing the deficit with a powerful header that struck the bar before falling to safety.

Liam Green replaced Darren Wheeler in the 58th minute, as the latter appeared to be struggling with a slight knock.

Were merely spectators in the second half up until Des Boateng produced the save of the match from Eastleigh stopper Paul Musselwhite. Boateng pulled the trigger from all of 30 yards, but Musselwhite was more than equal to it with a fine one handed stop.

As the match wore on, chances were hard to come by. A free kick from mid-week scorer Matt Bound was the nearest to a goal as his low driven effort got deflected by the Welling wall.

Paul Doswell made two more changes in Ben Ngwa and Ian Oliver replacing Martin Thomas and Francis Benali. The young striker Ngwa looked bright and sharp and it was his good ball to Town that led to a half chance for Eastleigh in the 78th minute. Dave Town cut inside before trying to get a shot in, the ball then deflected to Green at the back post but he just couldn’t do enough and it went out for a goal kick.

Eastleigh’s only other chances came from a Jason Dodd corner that had to be cleared from off the line and a David Hughes header from Green’s cross field pass that went agonisingly close.

All in all the result maybe a little disappointing but there is no doubt with a fully fit squad we will be there or there abouts come the end of the season

FULL TIME – Eastleigh 1-3 Welling

JAMIE MONTIGUE