An goal deep into injury time commended 10-man Welling United to defeat at Weymouth on Saturday.
The Wings were on top before Amadou Kassarate was shown a red card before the half-hour mark – Welling’s 11th dismissal of the campaign – and went behind early in the second half.
But Kai McKenzie-Lyle’s second-half penalty save gave the Wings hope and it looked for all the world like they would come home with a deserved point for their efforts when Ade Azeez came off the bench to equalise late on.
But in the third minute of additional time, Weymouth would strike a killer blow to leave them empty handed in the cruelest of fashions.
The visitors played some neat football early on and the first real opening fell their way after 13 minutes with Kyrell Lisbie coming close.
The forward sprung the offside trap to get in behind the Terras’ defence and got to the ball before the onrushing Zaki Oualah, lobbing it over the goalkeeper on the edge of the box, only for it to bounce just wide.
At the other end, Kai McKenzie-Lyle was called into action to keep out Harvey Slade’s header at his near post, but it was the Wings who were enjoying the better of it as Stefan Payne saw a shot well blocked by a good sliding challenge in the box.
Although they were shading proceedings, Welling would, once again, give themselves a hill to climb as they were reduced to 10 men on 28 minutes.
With Weymouth looking to clear a corner, the ball fell loose in the box and Kassarate put in a high foot which caught Slade and the referee did not hesitate in reaching for his red card.
It was the 11th time a Welling player had received his marching orders this season alone and it meant that Warren Feeney’s men would have to dig deep to come away with something.
The Wings made a decent start to the second half and came inches away from an opener two minutes after the restart when Payne pulled a cross back for debutant Sadik Balarabe who struck the outside of the post on the volley.
On 53 minutes, however, it was the Terras who went ahead. A low ball in from the left was not dealt with by Welling and it gave Bradley Ash the easy job of tapping in from close range.
Six minutes later, Weymouth were given a golden opportunity to quickly double their lead from the penalty spot after Lodi Lyons-Foster was adjudged to have fouled Harry Kypriano in the box.
But not for the first time this season, McKenzie-Lyle would prove himself as an adept penalty stopper, diving at full stretch to keep out Ahkeem Rose and keep his side in the game.
Goalscorer Ash had a pair of half-chances to increase the scoreline as he fired narrowly wide on both occasions, but it always looked like there would be a chance for the Wings to rescue a point and it looked like they did exactly that with six minutes remaining.
James Dunne’s long-range effort slapped back off the left-hand upright and substitute Azeez was on hand to gobble up the rebound to draw Welling level.
But deep into injury-time, relegation-threatened Weymouth would have the final say.
A long throw into the box caused problems and Jamie Sendles-White was able to clear a chance off the line, only for the ball to work its way back to Rose who smashed in off the underside of the bar to deny the 10 men Welling what would have been a battling point.
Weymouth: Oualah, Sesay, Carlyle, Willson, Kyprianou, Slade (O’Connell 46), Bearwish, McBurnie, Blair, Rose, Ash.
Subs (not used): Procter, Howe, Bush, Thomson.
Goals: Ash 53, Rose 90+3
Welling United: McKenzie-Lyle, Barnes (Alexander 81), Lyons-Foster, Sendles-White, Ezennolim, Dunne, Kassarate, Papadopoulos, Lisbie (Azeez 57), Payne, Balarabe (Parry 90+1).
Subs (not used): Vendrells-Parcerisa, Andrews.
Booked: Lisbie 45+3 (dissent), Payne 62 (foul on Kyprianou), Ezzenolim 85 (foul on Blair)
Sent off: Kassarate 28 (dangerous play)
Goal: Azeez 84
Referee: Daniel Lamport
Att: 787
