Welling United drew 1-1 with fellow promotion hopefuls Havant & Waterlooville at Park View Road on Saturday afternoon. A game of end to end football saw the visitors take the lead after just 10 minutes through Jamie Collins. However, the Wings drew level just before the break when Ben Lewis scored his second of the season.

The Hawks had the better of the opening exchanges, with the Wings creating very little. Welling Boss Adrian Pennock later revealed his side were slow to settle as they lined up in a new formation.

The Wings were caught asleep when Havant took a tenth minute lead. Tony Taggart's corner eventually found Jamie Collins, who from close range was able to scramble the ball home.

Ten minutes later and the Hawks should have added a second. Shaun Wilkinson's free-kick found Jefferson Louis who could only head wide of the Wings goal. It was not until the 26th minute that Welling tested Shane Gore in the Havant goal. Des Boateng hit a fierce shot, which was well saved by Gore.

Wilkinson missed another effort, firing just over before the Wings drew level four minutes later. Jamie Day's perfectly flighted free-kick found an unmarked Ben Lewis who beautifully looped his header over Gore.

Into the second half and the Wings could have taken the lead just minutes after the restart. Leon Solomon's cross was flicked just inches wide of the post by Steve Harper. Welling also had a penalty claim waved away by the referee when substitute Tony Battersby was brought down just a minute after coming on.

Wilkinson had a chance for the Hawks comfortably saved by Turner after Rocky Baptiste's run through the Wings defence. At the other end Danny Kedwell had a header pushed round the post before from close range Chris Moore's shot was superbly saved by Gore.

Kedwell was again involved when the striker pulled back a cross inside the box, which the incoming Boateng couldn't quite reach.

On the stroke of fulltime Jamie Turner made a brilliant save to deny Jefferson Louis leaving both sides to share the points in this entertaining and very competitive match.

Welling make the long trip to Dorchester Town on Tuesday. The Magpies picked up their first win since January when they secured a 3-2 victory away at Thurrock on Saturday. This is a game Welling need to win to keep them in this play off pack and will have every confidence in doing so after Saturday’s performance.

Come on you Wings!

Click Thumbnail or Here for Match Video (22MB-Large File)



Click Here for Interview with Adrian Pennock (2.5MB-Small File)

Extracts from the Interview:
"I was very proud of the players, it was a cracking game and it was like a cup tie to be fair. A great advert for Conference South football. Both teams have got to take a lot of credit. I was very proud of my players, against a very good Havant team and I thought we just shaded it on the day.

I changed formation today, I wanted to change it tactically and we went 3-5-2. It took us a little bit of time to get use to it but after the first 20 minutes I thought we looked very bright. After we scored I didn’t really want half time to come as we were flying.

Then there was a spell in the second half where I thought we could just nick that goal. Their keeper made two or three great saves but then Jamie Turner made a great save off Jefferson Louis. A great game, don’t get me wrong I wanted the three points, but play like we did today against a good Havant team all credit to the players."