Any illusions City may have had about what is required to make the grade this season were brought sharply into focus as they fell victim to a classic counter attacking display by a hard working and well organised Welling team.

Leon Bell, who replaced Rob Nightingale after at hour at Bath on Saturday retained his place in the starting the line-up of an otherwise unchanged side.

The Lilywhites attempted to emulate the impressive start they made against Chelmsford two weeks ago but the Wings found the perfect Milton Road playing surface much to their liking too as both teams passed the ball accurately to feet in the opening exchanges.

One such slick passing move saw the ball worked across the field to Jamie Godbold wide on the right, finding an extra gear the former Stoke City midfielder raced clear of Tom McGowen but his low angled cross was smothered by Glen Knight at the feet of Danny Bloomfield.

Lewis Watts had already been unsettled by the pace of Bloomfield when on six minutes the central defender under-hit a back pass which forced Knight to block at the feet of the City striker with his legs. As Welling broke immediately they cut through the City midfield and Paul Booth took advantage of hesitation in the City back-line to flash a first time shot high of the target.

With fifteen minutes on the clock Booth launched a free kick from the right of the centre circle across the City area. Worryingly for the home side this fairly routine delivery took both Lee Pluck and Craig Pope out of the game but the advancing Tim Hambley could only glance his header wide of the target when well placed.

Rob Nightingale nips past Welling's Tom McGowen

Two minutes later Welling took the lead with a soft goal. There appeared little danger when Tom McGowen collected a throw on the left-hand side and lofted a speculative ball into the Lilywhites area. Martin Davies called for the ball and advanced off his line to collect. He always appeared to be half a yard short and as the cross bounced just as he stretched to gather the ball in he could only divert it away to his right where Paul Booth was left with the straight forward task of slotting into the back of an unguarded net.

Welling consolidated in the following minutes which gave City the chance to dominate possession although a well drilled defence gave them little sight of the visitors goal. As City kept up the forward momentum the persistence of James Quilter created just enough room on the edge of the Wings’ box for the central defender to flight in a lob that was heading for the top corner until Knight tipped the ball over the bar.

With the game half an hour old City spurned a golden opportunity to level the score. Leon Bell, less influential in a game of this type than in last Saturday’s gritty display, flighted a quality ball into the box from the inside left channel, Bloomfield ghosted clear of Watts and from ten yards out sent a header arching over Knight and onto the face of the crossbar. As the ball bounced back into open play, Bloomfield, still in more space than he probably realised, blazed the rebound over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

Welling were still more than capable of breaking to good effect with an incision that the Lilywhites were unable to match at the other end of the field. On 33 minutes Billy Burgess and Anthony Riviere, taking a momentary breather from their dual marking role on Louis Riddle, exchanged passes on the right wing, Burgess finally delivering a cross which allowed Booth to get the better of Pope and set up Austin Berkeley who skied his shot when well placed.

Simpson, who along with Bloomfield was left to forage for scraps of possession up front, found himself with a rare opportunity to run at the visitors’ defence with ten minutes of the half remaining. Although it appeared he may have been impeded by Watts he stayed on his feet and advanced into the box only to be dispossessed when primed to shoot by a good recovery tackle from the Welling central defender.

As City strove to level the scores before the interval Rob Miller was felled on the edge of the penalty area slightly to the left of the centre of the goal. Taking the resultant free kick himself his low drive pierced the defensive wall but was gathered by Knight at the foot of his near post.

As Welling repelled another spell of City pressure with a trademark long clearance from Watts, Craig Pope, in attempting to lay the ball back to Davies with a cushion header, failed to make proper contact allowing Berkeley a clear site on goal. Fortunately for City, Davies, atoning for his earlier error, showed smart reactions to dive to his right and beat the shot away from the danger area. As Welling finished the half the stronger Hambley rose to meet a Danny Slatter corner, powering a header narrowly wide of the target.

The opening minutes of the second half followed a similar pattern to the first. City dominated possession but lacked the cutting edge to hurt Welling. Well drilled and tenacious the Wings allowed City no space in which to work and they effectively nullified Louis Riddle which left the Lilywhites looking bereft of attacking ideas.

Just short of the hour mark Welling delivered the killer blow. With the City back line half moving forward and half holding their ground the ball was worked through to Booth who found himself clear of any challenging defenders some ten yards from goal. With time to pick his spot the former Gravesend striker drew Martin Davies before sliding a shot to the ‘keeper’s left and into the corner of the net. On the evidence of what had gone before a City comeback from here looked like an extremely tall order.

Before play re-started Paul Parker withdrew Billy Burgess and replaced him with Phil Collins who immediately took up the role of a lone striker with Booth and Dave Powell tucking in behind him.

Belatedly City managed to provide Louis Riddle with the kind of service that might have reaped greater rewards had they found a way to get him into the game sooner. On 64 minutes he came deep to collect from Shane Wardley and skated down the wing, leaving the Welling defence in his wake, reaching the bye-line he pulled the ball back but agonisingly behind Simpson and Bloomfield who had both found space in the visitors’ box.

Moments later a Rob Miller corner from the left was angled away from goal, again it was Riddle who was first to react planting a powerful goal bound header beyond Knight only for Danny Slatter to head the ball off the line at the far post.

Rob Miller heads goalwards but his effort is saved

With just over 20 minutes remaining Gary Roberts introduced Mark Paul at the expense of Danny Bloomfield who had become somewhat subdued after a very bright opening half hour. Within moments of the change a long throw from Lee Pluck found Louis Riddle deep in the Wings’ penalty area, from the acutest of angles he flashed a snap-shot across the face of goal but the ball sailed harmlessly away to the right hand side of the box.

With City pouring forward they always looked vulnerable to the counter with some uncharacteristically shaky moments at the back only adding to the potential danger. With 20 minutes to go Slatter got the better of Lee Pluck and forced Davies into a smart save low to his left.

With Riddle starting to have a growing influence on proceedings as the game entered the final 15 minutes he played in Rob Miller with a neat pass across the face of the Welling box. The former Bedford midfielder’s dipping drive bounced off Knight although he was fully behind it. Frustratingly for City the loose ball deflected the wrong side of Jamie Godbold who had shown the awareness to follow the shot in. A decent Riddle cross minutes later looked like it might pick out either Simpson or Paul but both City strikers were crowded out by the massed ranks of Welling defenders.

With just over 10 minutes remaining James Quilter was withdrawn to be replaced by Rob Nightingale, City reverting to three at the back as they pushed forward in an attempt to salvage something from the game. A further five minute spell followed where City enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession but failed to trouble Knight in the Welling goal.

As City committed numbers forward the inevitable happened, Welling worked the ball quickly out of defence and fed Dave Powell who in turn waltzed through the centre of the Lilywhites shredded defence, stabbing a shot to the right of an unprotected Martin Davies who was powerless to prevent a third goal which hardly reflected the balance of play.

The Lilywhites produced one final bright moment when good work from Rob Nightingale on the right saw him become the first City player of the evening to produce a centre from that flank, his near post delivery picked out a diving Rob Miller whose low header was diverted behind by Knight resulting in his best save of the evening, Mr Pryme bringing proceedings to a close moments later.

Undoubtedly a setback, City failed to demonstrate the confidence of their two previous home outings possibly showing Welling too much respect which resulted in some uncharacteristic errors arising from what appeared to be either nerves or uncertainty. With such a young side results and performances like this are bound to feature now and again, especially against more experienced and expensively assembled opposition such as Welling, but although City can have no complaints about the defeat 3-0 was a very harsh score line.

Hopefully the lessons learnt will stand the players in good stead over the course of the season and there is an ideal opportunity to bounce back with Havant the visitors to Milton Road on Saturday.