Wellington AFC

Toolstation League division one: Cadbury Heath 1, Wellington 3

WELLINGTON returned to the top of the division one table with victory at Cadbury Heath last Saturday.

They got off to a blistering start and should have sewn the game up before half-time.

Within the first six minutes, Craig Mawford saw a free-kick pushed round the post by keeper Simon Crawford and then Craig Herrod was denied twice by Crawford when he seemed odds-on to open the scoring.

Crawford kept his side in the game with two more smart stops before the break to keep out shots from Alex Rudd and Shane Kingston.

But it was Cadbury Heath who almost took the lead in the first minute of the second half when Jamie Bryant was sent racing clear and beat keeper Ryan Lewis only for his shot to roll agonisingly wide of the post.

At the other end, Wellington had appeals for a penalty for handball turned down before they finally broke the deadlock with 13 minutes remaining.

Substitute Dave Anthony played in Kingston and the lively striker cleverly flicked the ball past Crawford before knocking it into an empty net.

The Cadbury Heath cause was not helped three minutes later when they had sub Lee Gitson sent off for using foul and abusive language to the referee.

And Wellington wrapped up the game with two more goals before the final whistle.

First, Kingston was brought down in the box and while Simon Ingram’s penalty was saved by Crawford, the skipper followed up to net.

And then man-of-the-match Kingston sent sub Nick Woon away on his own to calmly round Crawford and make it 3-0.

There was still time for Cadbury Heath to pull a goal back in the sixth minute of injury time, Marcus Doharty scoring from the penalty spot after what had looked an innocuous challenge on Bryant by Scott Holland.

Wellington: Ryan Lewis, Tim Legg, Scott Holland, Daniel Short, Matt Fowler, Craig Mawford, Simon Ingram, Andy Butler, Craig Herrod, Alex Rudd, Shane Kingston. Substitutes, Dave Anthony, Nick Woon and Greg Blenkinsop (all used).