The closest City came to drawing first blood in the opening exchanges was from a looping Gary Kemp header that landed on the roof of the Welling net. United's reponse saw Tyne volley wide and Brown test Ray Johnston with a well directed header. As the half progressed the visitors began to gain the upper had, earning a succession of corners that City's hard working back-line dealt with well. However, from another corner in the 32nd minute they failed to clear the ball and were duly punished. The corner was swung into the near post where Johnston appeared to be impeded. There was no intervention from the referee though and, when Kemp and Towler both failed to knock the ball to safety, Edwards pounced to fire it home from three yards out. If City fans were having nightmare flashbacks to the Newport IOW defeat these were somewhat dispelled as from the restart City won a corner from a deflected Jamie Gosling shot. The resultant set-piece was cleared but it as least showed that City weren't going to lay down without a fight this week. Before the break City did have the ball in the net, Foster turning Gosling's pass beyond keeper Knight, but a linesman flag brought any celebrations to a sudden halt.

After the interval the visitors were content to sit back and soak up what pressure City could apply. This approach appeared to have paid dividends after 58 minutes when a rare break should have seen them double their lead. City gave the ball away in midfield and Powell ran unchallenged toward Johnston's goal. He unselfishly elected to square the ball to Tyne but from just 12 yards out he stumbled at the vital moment and stabbed a weak shot into the grateful keepers arms. Lifted by this escape City again raised their game and pushed the Wings back onto the defensive. A 67th minute cross by Williams was almost headed into his own net by Brown and just a minute later City levelled. Gosling began the move that saw Foster's header come back off the bar to the feet of Milsom. His shot looked to have been blocked on the line but the linesman adjudged the ball had crossed the line and the comeback had begun. Having been on the wrong end of a similar decision at Folkestone City weren't going to complain and looked to press home the advantage they had been handed. This was Milsom's last involvement in the action as he had been struggling with an ankle injury since the first half. His replacement, reserve striker Dan Cleverly, immediately added new life to City's attacks and it was the 18-year old who became an unlikely hero with three minutes left on the clock. Thorne won a free-kick wide right which Drysdale stepped up to curl into the packed Welling penalty area. Knight came and attempted to punch clear but could only divert the ball against a defender. It fell to Cleverly on the corner of the six yard box and he calmly fired it back across goal into the net. So, City were left with just a few minutes to defend their lead and, with Welling clearly stunned by the turnabout, even as the game went into a fifth minute of stoppage time (ironically mainly for Welling's earlier time-wasting) they looked comfortably in control. The whistle finally arrived (after one false start (or end, I guess)) and City could look toward the next step in their recovery at Hednesford on Saturday.