Welling 2 St Albans City 3

WELLING will be left wondering how they remained pointless at Park View Road on Saturday against struggling St Albans City.

The Wings took the lead after three minutes. When debutant Onome Sodje slid his shot past keeper Paul Bastock.

In a one-way first half Welling piled on the pressure with Martin Carthy heading against the bar and Tony Browne denied by Bastock.

But they went in level at the break when James Smith hauled down Liam George and the referee pointed to the spot. Smith was red carded and Lee Clarke drilled home the penalty.

Sodje had a header cleared off the line at the start of the second half and the numbers were quickly levelled up when Ram Marwa was sent off for a stamp on Lee Spiller.

However, St Albans rallied and two goals in five minutes from Tom Davis and skipper Dean Hooper put them 3-1 ahead.

Welling gave themselves hope with 15 minutes left when Paul Booth scored from the penalty spot but they subsequently failed to test Bastock in the closing stages.

In other Nationwide Conference South results, Margate went down 1-0 at home to Carshalton Athletic.