Yeovil Town’s unbeaten run in National League South stretching back to the end of August came to an end in spectacular style at Welling United this afternoon. An early Jordan Young goal set the Glovers on their way, but it was downhill from there for Mark Cooper’s side as they fell to a 4-1 defeat.
The hosts’ Kain Adom equalised in the first half before a hat-trick in 11 second half minutes from former Glovers loanee Tristan Abrahams left the frozen travelling supporters feeling blue.
Here’s how Coatesie saw it from both away ends…
First half
Mark Cooper made two changes from Tuesday night’s draw at Chippenham Town with Jordan Young straight back into the side and Jake Wannell returning to defence, having missed the previous two matches through injury. On-loan Bristol City defender Duncan Idehen and top-scorer Rhys Murphy both dropped to the bench.
The first meaningful effort came to the visitors as Josh Chambers seized on a lapse in concentration and an important deflection by Morgan Williams saw the ball go over. From the corner which followed Joe Day had to get down smartly to deny Dominic Odusanya’s header.
Play swung to the other end and Sonny Cox was brought down on the edge of the box with Lachlan Byrd booked for the foul. Jordan Young’s resulting free-kick went over the bar.
But YOUNG made no mistake after 16 minutes as he came in from the right flank, got on to his left foot and lashed an unstoppable shot in to the net. 1-0
The wind was in the visitors’ sails with pressure coming towards the away terrace (there were in fact two away terraces with the game being the first unsegregated fixture of the season, meaning supporters could change ends at half-time) but the closest to a goal came from Young who got a fierce shot in from the edge of the box on 21 minutes.
Young will have felt he could have done better and never more so than two minutes later as Welling found an equaliser through another good strike. The ball dropped to Kain ADOM on the edge of the box and he curled a fabulous shot past Day. 1-1
That sparked a flurry of pressure for the hosts with Anthony Grant, one of two new signings announced at the start of the game, heading wide before Cameron Green curled one past the post just after the half-hour mark.
With neither side able to retain a lot of possession, a basketball game broke out as the game pressed towards half-time. On 34 minutes, Nouble burst forward through the middle but his shot was straight in to the hands of Charles-Cook. The game sprang to the other end and the speedy Jephte Tanga broke away and was denied by a block from Williams.
But it was the hosts who were in the ascendancy, knocking on the door of the Yeovil defence with some last ditch defending required to keep them out. Adom almost found his second, denied by an acrobatic Day as the board went up for first half stoppage time.
Since Young’s opener and a strong first 15 minutes, it was Welling who had all the impetus and Mark Cooper will have been the happier manager to hear the half-time whistle blow.
Half time: Welling United 1 Yeovil Town 1
Second half
With the words of their manager (probably/hopefully) ringing in their ears, Yeovil attacked down the slope at Park View Road after the break.
They started brightly again with Sonny Cox almost getting away within seconds of the restart, before Morgan Williams forced a fine stop out of the Charles-Cook. But that was as good as it got.
Ten minutes in to the half a break left the visiting defence floundering and cross form the right found ex-Glovers’ loanee Tristan ABRAHAMS who headed his side in front. 1-2
The gaps between a shaky defence and a fairly non-existent midfield, by the standards Worthington and Lo-Everton have shown, were being ruthlessly exploited by the home side who were belying their lowly status. Time and again, they out-ran and out-fought their lofty opponents who almost assisted their opponents to play the way they wanted.
Then, two minutes after going a goal ahead, the home side added a third as ABRAHAMS found himself one-on-one with Day and made no mistake. 1-3
On the hour mark, Murphy replaced Sonny Cox, before Abrahams missed a glorious chance to get his hat-trick as the ball flew across the face of goal only requiring the slightest of touches.
Murphy had a glorious chance to pull one back when he found himself close range, but his toe poke went straight to Charles-Cook. You’d have put your house on him to reduce the deficit.
On 67 minutes, ABRAHAMS completed his hat-trick curling in an effort. From potentially 3-2 to 4-1 down and that looks decidedly like that. 1-4
“Top of the league, you’re having a laugh”, sang the home fans and it was hard to argue. Since falling behind to Young’s 16th minute strike, the Wings looked far the superior side.
The immediate response saw Alex Fisher replace Dawes before Charlie Cooper replaced Worthington.
But their job was little more than damage limitation at this point.
There was at least a chance for a bit of happiness when Nouble thundered down the right side, fired a ball in to the back post where Fisher was arriving but his shot was stopped by the legs of Charles-Cook.
The final chance of the match deservedly fell to Welling as Adom forced another flying save out of Day in injury time.
Full time: Welling United 4 Yeovil Town 1
Match Details
Venue: Park View Road
Date: Saturday 25th November, 3pm kick-off
Competition: National League South
Pitch: Rutted and definite slope
Conditions: Beautiful Winter Sunshine (sounds like Coatesie’s debut album title)
Attendance: 826
Scorers: Jordan Young 16 (1-0), Kain Adom 23 (1-1), Tristan Abrahams 55 (1-2), Tristan Abrahams 57 (1-3), Tristan Abrahams 65 (1-3).
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Jordan Young 40, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton 73, Frank Nouble 85.
Welling United: Lachlan Byrd 13, Anthony Grant 13 , Tristan Abrahams 90+1.
Referee: Callum Fisk
Yeovil Town (4-4-2)
Substitutes: Rhys Murphy (for Sonny Cox, 60), Alex Fisher (for Will Dawes, 67), Charlie Cooper (for Matt Worthington, 75), Duncan Idehen (not used), Jordan Maguire-Drew (not used).
Welling United: , Reice Charles-Cook, Crossley Lema (for Rob Howard, 90+5)), Cameron Green, Taylor Curran (for Will Wood, 52), Anthony Grant, Tristan Abrahams, Dominic Odusanya, Kain Adom, Jephte Tanga, Josh Chambers (for Amadou Kassarate, 84), Lachlan Byrd
Substitutes (not used): Ibra Sekejja, Enoch Muwonge
Useless