Despite South West Trains’ efforts to help me and my travelling companion (rain too wet!) miss the match, I did arrive in time to witness the whole of what must said was a truly lack lustre performance from The Beavers.  Dev reverted back to 3-5-2, with John Scarborough & Lawrence Yaku being restored to the starting line up, with Smith & Hodges dropping down to the bench.  The evening remained dry for the most part but both teams had to contend with a blustery wind. 

The first half saw Hampton with the elements in their favour, which included a considerable slope on the Park View Road pitch.  Despite this, it was the home side that started the match in lively fashion, with Welling striker Andy Pugh giving the Beavers defence a testing opening period.  Fernandez, in particular was having difficulty coping with 2 men running at him without any additional cover.  Marc committed a foul about 30 yards out, which resulted in a free kick in a central position.  A smart move from the free kick, left the Hampton defence flat footed and Pugh was on hand to sweep the ball into the net from 8 yards, in the 12th minute.  Hampton gradually started to enjoy more territorial advantage, which saw Collier try his luck from 30 yards.  His shot rebounded to Stuart Lake whose effort ballooned off a defender safely into the arms of the Welling keeper.

Hampton were restricted to long range efforts, mainly from Matthews & Yaku, the best of which came on 41 minutes, when Yaks turned on the edge of the area and hit a left foot shot just over.  Lovett was by far the busier keeper and had to make several smart stops and interceptions.  The home side finished the first half the stronger, without adding to their lead.

The 2nd half started with Lovett again called into action, as he saved another Pugh effort.  The BSS No. 1 from last season did well to push away a dangerous Welling free kick in the 52nd minute, shortly after which Dundas received a harsh yellow card for hand ball.  He was pushed in the back by Welling centre back, during an aerial dual, and stuck his hand up to balance himself.  Welling continue to push forward.  Dean Wells broke up an attack in the 57th minute and we were treated to a rare surging run from the skipper, which took him nearly the length on the pitch, going uphill!!  As in the 1st half any shots we did manage were long range efforts and did not trouble Mitten in the home goal.  The 65th minute saw a couple of Hampton subs.  Hodges & Tarpey were replaced by Dundas, and the clearly out of sorts Matthews.  There was an immediate improvement, with Tarpey running at the home defence from deep, which seemed to cause them a few problems.  On 70 minutes Tarpey went on a run, which resulted in his shot going wide of the target.  A few moments later the same man hit the net, unfortunately it was the side netting, but it was the nearest we came to scoring!! Pugh, from Welling, & Hodges both received yellow cards as the game drifted towards its end.  Despite a lot of huff and puff from the Beavers they were never going to ‘blow the house down’. As the game entered added time, Smith, on for Yaku, hit a weak effort straight at Mitten for his 1st save of the match!!  Welling then swept to the other end and substitute Hobbs slid the ball home from 6yards.

It was a poor performance from the Beavers and Dev kept them on the pitch for nearly 20 minutes at the end letting him know what he thought.  During periods in the 1st half especially, you could have thrown a handkerchief over our midfield 3 of Matthews, Lake & Collier, this left Fernandez & Tanner exposed on the flanks.  It must be said that confidence and moral appear to be very low at the moment, so it is a time for players and supporters alike to stick together to see us through this sticky patch.

Let’s hope for better next Tuesday when we make to short trip to Weston-super-Mare!!