Lincoln City suffered a third straight home defeat going down 2-0 to Welling, a defeat which all but ends any chance of making the playoffs.
Goals from Dominic Vose and Jason Williams in the first-half give Welling the perfect platform to escape a relegation fight.
Lincoln started the game on the front foot, with Ben Tomlinson having a goal disallowed inside the first five minutes.
After a well worked routine from a free-kick, Tomlinson’s finish was ruled offside.
The Imps looked comfortable on the ball, with Alan Power in particular pulling the strings for the home side.
He put through Tomlinson on the left channel, with the striker putting a dangerous ball in the box which Marcus Marshall couldn’t get on the end of.
However, for all of Lincoln’s impressive attacking football, Welling looked threatening on the break, with their trio of attacking players; Vose, Williams and Kieron St. Aimie linking up well.
The Imps couldn’t convert any of their early pressure, with Delano Sam-Yorke unable to slot past Welling keeper Jonathan Henly.
Against a side who’re 21st in the table, fighting for survival, you have to take your chances, but Lincoln were made to pay, as Vose picked up the ball from the left channel and strike from 20 yards into the corner.
That was Welling’s first shot on target, Imps ‘keeper Paul Farman looked perplexed as to how his side were behind.
The Imps looked dejected after going 0-1 down, and their rhythm was gone.
It got worse for the home side, as Barney Williams’ ball put through Jason Williams on goal, and the striker comfortably scored, leaving Farman helpless.
Second shot on target, second goal.
Lincoln showing some sort of attempt at a fightback towards the end of the half through off-target attempts by Tomlinson and Bencherif, but at half-time, they trailed 2-0.
The Imps came out in the second half-trying to get an early goal and they came close through Nat Brown and Marshall.
However, after missing those chances, the game slowly drifted away from the home side as they could never recover the confidence they had in the first half.
To compound a distasteful performance, Sam-Yorke was sent off in the 95th minute after lashing out at a Welling United player.
Some may say the Imps were unlucky to lose against Welling, they weren’t.
They were beaten by a smart side, who’re fighting for their life at the bottom of the league and they’ve also condemned the Imps to their third consecutive home defeat.
Written by: Danyal Khan