THREE AWAY GOALS BUT IT ENDS IN DEFEAT

THERE were goals aplenty in our first away game of 2019 as we slipped to a 5-3 defeat at Welling United.
We had an early warning when our hosts went close within the opening couple of minutes before Rivers did well to make a smart save just before the quarter-hour mark.
They finally made the break though on 16 minutes when Kissock was fouled inside the area and Goldberg managed to find the net from the penalty spot despite the best efforts of Rivers to keep it out.
With their tails between their legs, the home side went on to hit the woodwork before they were able to double their advantage on 28 minutes as Braham-Barrett fired home.
Worse was to follow moments later when Mills’ header was touched onto the bar by Rivers and Paterson was on hand to make it 3-0 from close range.
It gave us a mountain to climb and Wilks went close to adding another goal before Tyler Harvey had a rare chance for us in the closing stages of the opening period.
The home side made the perfect start to the second period as within second of the restart they made it 4-0 as Mills broke through before slotting home.
To our credit, we refused to let our heads drop and it wasn’t long before Harvey reduced the arrears as his effort went in off the post.
With Alex Battle on up front for his debut, we pushed for a second goal, but we were dealt a blow when Anau did well to create an opening for Mills who made no mistake for the home side’s fifth goal.
Niall Thompson went close before a free-kick from Allen found the head of Hurst who produced a good save from the home ‘keeper.
There were 20 minutes to go when Harvey notched his second goal to make it 5-2 with a low strike.
Our joy turned to concern when Pittman was forced off with a nasty-looking injury as he was replaced by Louis Rooney.
After a series of corners, our third goal finally arrived when Hurst headed home beyond the reach of the ‘keeper.
In the wake of the goal, Louis Rooney went close as we sensed a remarkable comeback but the home side were able to keep us at bay despite there being eight minutes of stoppage time at the end.

WHITE TIGERS: Rivers, Thompson, Roley-Lowe, Bentley (Battle 51), Booth, Grimes, D. Rooney, Allen, Hurst, Lewington (Pittman 57, L. Rooney 76), Harvey. Subs not used: Keats, J. Richards.
GOAL(S): Harvey (2), Hurst.

PHOTO: Josh Miller.