Slough Town show character to fight back for a point at Welling United

Johnny Goddard (right). Photo: George Beck

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Welling United 2, Slough Town 2

Slough Town showed character when the chips were down this afternoon to come from two-goals down to pick up a very important point at Welling United.

Player manager Scott Davies had spoken in the week about the Rebels needing to guard against complacency as they slipped towards the National League South relegation zone.

They went into today's game just 10 points above the drop zone but having lost six of their last eight matches in the league after losses at Truro City last Saturday and home to Chippenham Town on Tuesday night.

Most expect they have enough quality, and enough points on the board to stay out of relegation danger, and a few more spirited performances like this one will also help.

The result leaves them 11 points above the bottom four with 10 matches left to play, starting at home to Farnborough next Saturday (March 8).

At half-time, it appeared the Rebels hadn't heeded their manager's warning about sleepwalking into a relegation scrap.

The visitors had a couple of early chances, with David Ogbonna forcing a save from Rhys Lovett and Johnny Goddard seeing his follow up also kept out.

But the Wings then forced a fair few corners and Slough had to be alerted to keep them at bay. A head injury to Dan Bayliss had a disruptive impact on the Rebels. He received treatment for the injury and stayed on the field for another 10 minutes, but in the meantime, Welling took a two-goal lead.

Just before the half-hour mark, the home side took advantage of some poor control by Henry Ochieng and Moore was able to cross the ball for Scott Kashket to tap home.

Worse was to follow in the 29th minute when Kashket was played through on Charlie Horlock's goal once again and he chipped home to make it 2-0.

Bayliss was replaced by Davies in the 38th minute but by then the damage had been done. The home side should really have taken a 3-0 lead before half-time when the ball was swung in for Di Trolio, but he directed his header wide of the mark.

Davies and Tony Fontenelle made another change at the break, with Sam Evans coming on to replace John Gilbert with the Rebels looking to go more direct to Evans and Slavi Spasov.

They gave themselves a foothold in the game in the 56th minute when captain Josh Jackman looped a header home from Goddard's delivery and, with nothing to lose, Slough now pressed for a second.

Edon Pruti's volley was nearly deflected into the back of the Welling net in the 73rd minute but missed the far post and Slough continued to threaten as the game entered the final 10 minutes.

With Welling retreating to protect the lead they had; Slough sensed an opportunity. And that chance arrived in the 84th minute when Goddard controlled the ball brilliantly on the edge of the box and swept a shot past Lovett and into the back of the net.

The win was now up for grabs for both teams and Prosper saw a deflected effort well saved by Lovett in the 86th minute. Horlock kept out a downward header from Deon Moore at the other end, but after four minutes of stoppage time, both sides were forced to settle for a point.

Slough are 17th and Welling stay 20th, a point above the relegation zone.