Welling Wing it
- tricky291
- Aug 31
- 5 min read
August 2005, I first visited Honeycroft, the home of Uxbridge FC. It was an FA Cup game, and with the match against Great Wakering Rovers level after 90 minutes and heading into injury time, the opponents scored a 92nd-minute winner! I was hooked. Roll on 20 years and…
20th August 2024 was the date that Uxbridge exited last season’s FA Cup at the preliminary round stage, following a replay against Ashford Town (Middx). One team went up last season whilst the other was relegated. Thanks to our promotion last season, we entered this season’s competition on 30th August at the First Qualifying Round stage. Conversely, our opponents, Welling, having played in the first two steps of non-league football for the past 40-plus years, played in this round for the first time in a while owing to their relegation last season.
Both teams headed into this very windy encounter on the back of one win in five this season. However, Uxbridge's other four games were draws; Welling's were four losses.
Uxbridge made three changes from their lineup of the last two games, with Kyle Bailey replacing Bernie Tanner at centre-half. Up front saw Fope Deru and Dan Rowe replacing George Moore (ill) and Nnams Nwachuku (cup-tied).
Welling, managed by ex-Manchester United player Lee Martin, also made three changes to their lineup from the previous game and included ex-Red, Hamilton Antonio.
Welling are nicknamed The Wings but it was Uxbridge who made a flying start. Uxbridge were attacking the goal with the wind in their favour. In the first minute, a foul on Dan Rowe next to the opposition dugout gave Prior-Tack the opportunity to whip in a free kick, which he did expertly onto the head of Reds' captain C.J. Fearn. But Freddie Norman in the Welling goal was equal to it by tipping it around the post for the first corner of the game.
Three minutes later, a good ball down the line by the impressive Kai Hobbs sent Joe Lawal down the right wing, and he forced the Reds' second corner. The corner arrived at the back post with Fearn trying to get to the ball whilst having his shirt pulled off his back. However, he used his strength, and the ball was eventually recycled to Harry Rush, but his 25-yard rasping drive was straight down the throat of Norman.
Seven minutes elapsed, and Welling had their first corner of the game. Rush cleared a shot off the line, and Fearn blocked the follow-up from the corner. In the 18th minute, Hobbs was fouled in an attacking position. From the resulting free kick, the ever-dependable Casey Bocarro passed to Rush on the edge of the box to unleash another shot, which was tipped over by Norman. In the 28th minute, Logan Dobbs received the first caution of the game for a foul on Prior-Tack. Welling didn’t look like a team with four defeats in five and nearly took the lead in the 32nd minute when a poor pass-back by Fearn was intercepted by a Welling attacker. But Mark Scott in the Uxbridge goal made a good save, guiding the ball around the post. The resulting corner saw Welling hit the bar, although Scott had it covered.
Welling’s fourth corner of the half occurred in the 40th minute. Hobbs cleared to Lawal, who ran with the ball before feeding Prior-Tack to unleash an unstoppable shot, 1-0 to the Red Army! With the half drawing to a close, Welling got their fifth corner, which was headed away by Fearn, and referee Michael Smith blew for half time.
HT 1-0
12 minutes into an uneventful half saw the first changes of the game. Uxbridge’s Dan Bradshaw replaced Fope Deru whilst Welling replaced Antonio and Shakpoke with Henry Sinai and Jack Leahy. Welling were now playing with the wind at their backs but weren’t making use of it. In fact — checked notes — there was nothing to report besides a Welling corner in the 61st minute, which resulted in a good counter-attack (transition for younger readers). The result of this was a corner to Uxbridge. 68 minutes saw Uxbridge make their second change, with Harry Thorpe replacing Dan Rowe. The first chance of the half went to Welling in the 70th minute when Leahy should have done better on the edge of the area with a shot over the bar. Uxbridge had to wait until the 35th minute of the half for their first shot on target in the second period. This was by Lawal after good work from Prior-Tack and Thorpe. That was Prior-Tack’s last involvement, as he was replaced by Massimo Giamattei, making a welcome return to first-team action.
Uxbridge’s first card of the game happened in the 86th minute when Dan Bradshaw made a ‘took one for the team’ challenge to thwart a promising attack. 87 minutes passed, and whilst Welling had the majority of the ball, they still hadn’t had a shot on target in the second half. With Michael Smith giving Welling the ball after stopping play — even though Uxbridge were in possession — they won a free kick on the halfway line. The foul resulted in a yellow for Hobbs. The free kick from the halfway line was launched into the box and Scott decided (I presume) that the wind would carry it a bit further than it did as he came out. However, it didn’t, and Logan Dobbs’ header just needed to be aimed at the goal for an equaliser.
Uxbridge nearly made a perfect response and made a rare attack in the Welling half with Giamattei unlucky with a curling shot just evading the upright in normal time.
Welling took an undeserved lead in the 92nd minute through Greg Cundle.
Well into Fergie time, Uxbridge had their fourth corner of the half and seventh overall. Scott came up from his goal hoping for a spot of redemption. The wonderful left foot of Bacarro swung it into the box where Kyle Bailey — who also had an excellent game — got his head to the ball. But agonisingly for him and the majority of the 341 in attendance, the ball hit the post. Mr. Smith brought an end to proceedings.
The game was over, and although Uxbridge did sit back, intentionally or not, Welling did only have two shots on target in the second half to go with their two corners, whilst Uxbridge had four corners but only one shot which needed Norman to be in goal. So, 20 years after my first Uxbridge game, the same outcome: knocked out by an injury-time goal! Déjà vu.
Uxbridge’s Chairman and Treasurer will not be happy with the club only receiving £750 for losing today as opposed to £2,250 for seeing out the last five minutes and progressing to the next round. I can’t imagine that part of the income will buy the writer of this report a beer. More likely though, he will get the (WELLINGTON) Boot, with Richard taking up nib duties for our next game, which is in the league at home to Taunton Town on Saturday at 3 pm.
FT 1-2
Att: 341
Uxbridge: Scott: Hobbs, Bocarro, Fearn (c), Bailey: Nnadozie (Osu 88), Rush, Proir-Tack (Giamattei 83); Lawal, Deru (Bradshaw 57) Rowe (Thorpe 68)
Subs not used: Brown, Tanner, Orlowski
Welling: Norman, O’Neill, Majoyegbe, Ebuzoeme, Dobbs, Shakpoke (Leahy 57), Dyer, Cundle, Paxman (c), Antonio (Sinai 57), Ufuah
