Cambridge City 3 Welling 1

NEIL SMITH'S wait for his first win in charge of Welling continued despite a promising display at Cambridge on Tuesday night.

The Wings dominated for long periods of the game but a combination of good goalkeeping, poor defending and a dreadful referee left them pointless for the second successive match.

The visitors were not helped by traffic problems on the M11 which meant a four-hour journey to the game with the match eventually getting underway at 9pm.

Cambridge took full advantage and were ahead inside two minutes. A push on Tony Sinclair was missed by the officials and Michael Gash twisted Chris Moore inside out before firing in from an acute angle.

Ben Bowditch and Lee Roache both went close to doubling the lead as Cambridge threatened to run riot, but Welling's new-look side gradually got themselves back into the contest.

Sam Keevil's 10th-minute drive was beaten away, Moore headed wide from a corner and Nicky Ward dragged his shot wide. Omari Coleman was then denied twice in a minute. First his effort was cleared off the line and then keeper Shane Herbert pulled off another stunning stop.

Roache was then cautioned for an off the ball incident with Moore before Richard Carpenter shot inches over on the stroke of half-time.

Welling continued to impress going forward after the break and their neat passing and movement was in direct contrast to the direct style of last season.

But, as with Adrian Pennock's side, they conceded from a corner when Lee Roache found room at the far post to turn the ball home after 58 minutes.

Keevil then saw his thunderbolt 25-yard shot come back off the post as it looked as though the Wings were never going to score.

But their luck turned on 64 minutes when Steve May cut inside and curled a delightful 20-yard left-foot shot into the top corner.

For the second successive game, the opposition should have been reduced to 10 men. Roache went down under Turner's challenge in the 69th minute but referee Neil Hair somehow gave the Wings a free-kick for simulation. However, with Roache already in the book, the referee decided not to produce a second yellow card.

Welling continued to dominate but they put themselves out of the game with 10 minutes left when Turner made a mess of Lee Chaffey's effort.

Elsewhere in Blue Square South, Bromley went down 2-1 at Braintree despite a 73rd minute goal from Francis Duku.