Wings fly past Lilywhites in FA cup replay
Game 7
Welling United 2 – 1 Faversham Town
Venue: The Anthony Martin community Stadium (Formerly Park View Road)
Goalscorers: Welling United – Demaray Anyadike (39), Ryan Kingsford (90+3,Pen), Faversham Town – Tommie Fagg (63)
Red Cards: Faversham Town – Matthew Newman (90+1)
Match Day Experience
First game under the lights at Park View Road this season in an FA cup replay, the Welling United ground staff and volunteers did a great job getting the ground ready considering the Wings were meant to be playing in the FA trophy at Artic Stadium before the replay was scheduled. The attendance was slightly down from previous home games due to the short turn around from Saturdays game and the replay begin scheduled.
Match Report
These two teams faced each other just three days earlier in the FA Cup, which ended in a 1–1 draw at Faversham Town’s home ground, Salters Lane. The replay would provide an equally tight and tense game between the two teams, with Welling United being in the division above Faversham Town.
The Wings started the brighter of the two teams, applying pressure to the Lilywhites’ defence early in the game, with wingers Anyadike and Shomotun creating havoc for their opposing fullbacks, whilst Melvin-Lambert was doing his best in the middle, occupying the thoughts of both centre-halves at all moments. Early in the game, Welling provided a lot of huff and puff and pressure on the Faversham back line, winning a fair amount of corners and free kicks.
The Wings’ midfield was playing some good stuff, with Blackman providing a solid base for Kaan Bennett and Jamie Reynolds to show off their attacking abilities. Bennett was enjoying himself in the No. 10 position, picking up some cute positions and causing issues for the Faversham midfield and defence, who didn’t quite know where he was. Jamie Reynolds is a true technician of the sphere; every time the ball was at his feet, he picked a perfect pass to start an attack.
Welling United had applied a lot of pressure in the first half, and five minutes from half-time they got their reward. Anyadike produced an excellent curling effort from the right corner of the box after Nathan Bertram-Cooper found himself in the penalty area, battled hard to win the ball, and laid it off to Anyadike.
The second half became much more even, with Faversham having 45 minutes to save their FA Cup journey for the season. The Lilywhites were playing about 10 yards further up the pitch. Despite the pressure applied by Faversham, Wings keeper Foley was yet to be pulled into action. However, that would soon change, as some smart play down the Lilywhites’ left wing would create an attempt from the edge of the box, which Foley was equal to, tipping the ball behind for a corner. From the following corner, Faversham would bring the game level after a delicious delivery caused chaos in the Welling box, with Tommie Fagg bundling the ball over the line.
Moments later, it could have gone from bad to worse for the Wings as Faversham looked to be through on goal before the referee called it back for a foul on Welling defender Louis Ramsey. Faversham Town looked to have had the upper hand in the game, which is when Wings boss Ryan Maxwell made the change to bring on Troy Howard for Fumnaya Shomotun. This was Troy’s second appearance back from injury after having a stellar campaign for the Wings last year, playing a key part in their survival last season.
It wouldn’t take long for the Wings to wrestle back the momentum, and they thought they had found their lead when a deep cross from Ramsey was volleyed in by Anyadike. However, the linesman had raised his flag to dampen the mood in PVR.
Moments later, the Wings couldn’t believe what happened when Troy Howard, who had made a real impact on the game, beat his fullback and whipped in a phenomenal ball into the box. It found Melvin-Lambert between the two centre-halves, but he somehow only found himself in the back of the net, with the ball trickling wide, proving that he (Nahum Melvin-Lambert) was indeed human.
As the board went up indicating there would be three additional minutes of added time, it very much looked like the game was heading to extra time. This was before Foley launched the ball forward, which was flicked on by Melvin-Lambert to substitute Ryan Kingsford. Kingsford was dragged down by Newman, which from my angle looked about a yard or two outside the box. However, the referee pointed to the spot, reached into his red pocket, and brandished a red card for Matthew Newman.
Ryan Kingsford, who had won the penalty, was set to be the taker, and he showed great composure to send the keeper the wrong way and send the Wings into the next round of the cup.
The final whistle brought about some handbags, but I’m not really sure what started it all off, as I was checking my bet to see if it had come in. Spoiler alert: it hadn’t. There were great scenes after the match, as the Welling players clearly enjoyed their late winner and will be glad to have come out on top of this tie after a tense 180 minutes.
In the next FA Cup qualifier, the Wings will take on Dulwich Hamlet at Champion Hill, a tie that will excite some fans and bring worry for others. Next up in the league, Welling United will take on Wingate & Finchley, whilst Faversham Town will be playing their next game just down the road as they take on Cray Valley (PM) at the Artic Stadium.
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