Weymouth 2 - 1 Welling United

INJURY-HIT Welling suffered their first away league defeat of the season at Nationwide Conference South title favourites Weymouth on Saturday.

Goals either side of half-time bu Brian Dutton and Danny Shipp put the home side 2-0 up before Welling's Matt Carruthers insured a nervous final 17 minutes.

The Wings, without five first team regulars including top scorer Danny Kedwell through injury, started brightly and more than held their own in the opening half hour.

However, they paid for some slack defending four minutes before half-time when Dutton headed home a left-wing corner from six yards.

The game appeared to be beyond Welling 11 minutes into the second half when the impressive Darren Wheeler ran at the Wings defence before the loose ball fell kindly for Shipp to convert.

Welling nearly pulled one back on 71 minutes when Che Stadhart hit the post from close range. Two minutes later they did find a way past home keeper Jason Matthews when Stadhart set up Carruthers who produced a neat finish under the advancing keeper.

The Wings could have salvaged a point with eight minutes left when Stadhart was denied from close range, while Matt Bodkin's injury-time cross was kept out by a back-pedalling Matthews.

Welling played the final seven minutes with 10 men after Matt Lee picked up a second yellow card for a late challenge.