by Matthew Panting

A goal in either half sent Welling tumbling into the Blue Square South relegation zone on Tuesday night.

The Wings tried a flash 4-1-3-2 formation in the first half but they seemed confused by the tactics and trailed at half-time.

A switch to 4-4-2 followed in the second half and Andy Ford's men dominated proceedings. However, they missed a number of good openings and were eventually beaten when Maidenhead scored their second goal with seven minutes left.

Ford conceded: "It was disappinting again. We couldn't get to grips with the shape in the first half.

"All four of us on the coaching staff picked that and felt it was the best shape we could go out with. When we changed it in the second half we looked better and had more about us."

Welling were again their own worst enemies as both goals came from conceding possession cheaply.

"Our quality at times was very poor on the ball," said Ford. "Lee Clarke gave the ball away for their first goal, albeit 80 yards away from our goal, but they still scored when we gave it away cheaply. Then Dean Cracknell gave it away for the second goal and we got exposed."

Maidenhead took a 24th-minute lead when, having been presented with possession by Lee Clarke, Bradley Quamina somehow evaded a Lee Protheroe tackle and then squeezed the ball past Charlie Mitten from an acute angle.

It could have been worse eight minutes later but Daniel Brown's 20-yard rocket came back off the crossbar.

Within three minutes of the second half, Loui Fazackerley (pictured) was clean through on goal but managed to scuff his shot wide, before fizzing a 20-yard effort just over shortly after.

Maidenhead should have been reduced to 10 men after 63 minutes when Mark Nisbet was only cautioned for a professional foul on substitute Tom Whitnell.

Substitute Tony Finn's right-wing corner fell to Fazackerley with 10 minutes left but his close-range shot hit the body of keeper Chris Tardif.

It proved a telling miss as Cracknell lost possession and susbstitute Alex Wall burst through to make it 2-0 with seven minutes left.