Welling United 0, Basingstoke Town 1

BASINGSTOKE Town manager Ernie Howe punched the air with delight as his side continued their play-off push with a battling win at Welling on Monday afternoon.

The victory - their second consecutive 1-0 away win - moved Town to within just two points of the final play-off spot, currently held by Eastbourne.

It was Martin Whiddett who struck the winning goal after 23 minutes, but once again it was Jason Bristow and Mark Paterson - in the heart of the Town defence - who were instrumental.

Welling worried Town with long spells of pressure in the second half, but were unable to find a way through.

The introduction by the home side of D'nome Sodje, a Charlton Athletic youth player, gave Welling's attack more impetus and his pace terrorised the back line.

For all that, Basingstoke had three great chances to seal the game. The first came just three minutes after the interval, as Bristow hooked on a Brett Cooper free-kick and Cristian Levis sidefooted wide as he went for the far post.

Town created another chance after the introduction of Saturday's goal hero Neville Roach, on the bench yesterday, as he out-muscled Welling's Ian Wiles and tried to go back past the defender when a straight run at goal looked the better option.

On 82 minutes, Town goalkeeper Scott Tarr's goal-kick to David Ray was met by a fine flick to Roach, who passed back to Ray. His low, hard cross found Levis, who had more time than he thought, as he fired wide.

On 86 minutes the visitors' defence was breached for the first time as Lew Watts' slide pass split the defence, but substitute Tommy Tyne was off-balance and shot over.

During the four minutes of injury time, both Whiddett and Roach had chances but were unable to find the net.

Earlier in the contest, Town were forced to change their line-up from the one which drew 1-1 on Saturday with Weston-super-Mare, as goal-scorer Roach had a sore knee. As a result, he was named as a sub.

So striker Whiddett returned to partner Adam Wallace, who was given a start after coming on as a sub on Saturday.

It was 32-year-old Whiddett who opened the scoring on 23 minutes as he headed home German De La Vega's cross.

That was the second good chance the visitors had carved out for themselves in the opening 45 minutes, as on 10 minutes Wallace had hit the side netting with a right-foot shot. This after he had been played in by a pass from Levis behind Welling defender Jamie Day.

In an eventful opening 45 minutes, Welling also had their chances and looked at every opportunity to utilise the pace of Lee Spiller.

On six minutes, the Kent side's Danny Slatter sent a long ball through which Paul Booth latched onto, but the combined efforts of Cooper and Tarr thwarted him.

On 15 minutes, Booth - the club's leading goalscorer - managed to cut inside and went past Cooper and Bristow before unleashing a powerful shot which Tarr pushed around the post.

After Town scored - which it could be argued was against the run of play - Welling finished the half strongly as Tarr was called into action to deny Slatter's left-foot shot.

On 40 minutes, Spiller got in behind the visitors' defence and it was left to Paterson and Tarr to sniff out the goal-scoring chance.

Town are next in action at the Camrose on Saturday when Redbridge are the visitors.

Basingstoke Town: Scott Tarr, Brett Cooper, Neville Stamp, Jason Bristow, Mark Paterson, David Ray, German De La Vega, Sergio Torres, Adam Wallace (sub Neville Roach 67min), Martin Whiddett, Cristian Levis.

Subs (not used): Ricky Allaway, Uwa Ogbodo, Nathan Stamp, Liam Castle.

First published: Tuesday, March 29