By Mark Doig at Badgers Sports Ground
ALTHOUGH it was the third meeting between Cray Valley (PM) and Welling United this season, both clubs came into the match with managers new to the fixture.
While Welling manager, Ryan Maxwell, has been in situ since November, former Charlton Athletic striker Kevin Lisbie was appointed at Cray Valley less than a month ago for his first role in first team management.
Lisbie made one change to the team that recoded a vital 1-0 win at Lewes on Saturday with Marvel Ekpiteta returning from suspension replacing Clement Asiedu.
Maxwell also made one alteration to his starting line-up following his team’s late loss at home to Dartford, restoring the ineligible Sam Smith in place of Ayman El-Mogharbel. He took a place on the substitute’s bench.
Both teams are fighting to avoid relegation from the Isthmian League Premier Division and Welling emerged victorious despite having behind in the first half.
After the game, Maxwell expressed his delight with the performance and result. “[I’m] unbelievably happy” he said.”We got sucker-punched on Saturday and then to go 1-0 down tonight, we got tested. I’m unbelievably proud of their attitude and their character tonight to not waiver and to stick at it and ultimately get their rewards for it.
“It was a real team performance. I’d be struggling to pick a man of the match. Everyone played their part in it and that’s the ethic I need. The fans tonight were absolutely incredible. We certainly got the fans behind us tonight, got behind that team and absolutely drove them on and were very, very key to getting that result.”
The hosts went ahead in the nineteenth minute. Kurtis Cumberbatch hit a shot from the edge of the penalty area, Wings goalkeeper Mackenzie Foley was unable to hold it, and Makise Evans was first to the rebound to fire home.
Foley then made a brilliant save from Fumnaya Shomotun to keep it at 1-0 before a match-changing incident just before half-time.
Ade Azeez intercepted a wayward back-pass, went round goalkeeper Prince Adegoke, and shot goalwards. Cray captain, Danny Waldren, raced back and blocked the shot, handling in the process. Although it came back out to Azeez with an open goal in front of him, referee Timothy Schietroma elected not to pause before blowing his whistle and awarded a penalty as the Welling striker fired home.
As a result, Waldren was deemed to have denied Welling a goal-scoring opportunity and was shown the red card. After the fuss had died down, Azeez converted from the spot.
Early in the second period, Adegoke made an outstanding save to deny Zak O’Keefe but was powerless to stop the Wings from going ahead just before the hour mark. John Ufuah’s deep cross was met by by Troy Howard arriving from the right wing and his guided low volley flew home.
Looking for a quick response, the Millers almost got it when a clever free-kick caught Welling out and Emmanuel Adebiyi centred low for Marvel Ekpiteta to convert. However, his joy turned to dismay as he had gone too soon and was caught offside.
Sam Smith scored a brilliant third for the Wings when he shot on the turn from 25 yards to find the top corner.
Ufuah added a fourth in stoppage-time after being sent through by Jack Thomas before he slid home beyond Adegoke and inside the far post.
Unsurprisingly, Lisbie was disappointed, feeling that everything hinged on what happened just before half-time.
“I thought that [the referee] was really keen to send him off.” he said. “I thought he could have just given the goal. It was actually in the net. There was zero need to send him off.”
Explaining how his appointment came about, Lisbie said “I spoke to the chairman and he’s asked me to come in and galvanise the group and get them together, and get some results. Taking today’s game out of the way, I thought we’ve been good since I’ve been here. I thought that we maybe should have won two of the games when we haven’t.
“We’ve not won many games this season, we’ve lost quite a few so I’ve walked into a group that’s fragile and I’ve tried to build confidence, and hopefully I’ll get some players in to help this group.”
Cray Valley (PM): Adegoke; Bowry, Waldren, Ekpiteta, Newby; Cumberbatch, Agyemang (Beere 78); Shomotun, Adebiyi (Aileru 67), Ajakaiye (Tumkaya 45); Evans.
Substitutes not used: Barrington, Green.
Welling United: Foley; O’Keefe, Paternoster, Gunner, Arthur; Thomas (El-Mogharbel 90+4), Smith; Howard (Vukoje 71), Gard (Oluwatimilehin 79), Ufuah (Reynolds 90+3); Azeez (Akanbi 86).
Substitutes not used: None.
