Phantom goal costs United at Welling

A seriously dubious disallowed goal ultimately led to Torquay United’s undoing as they slipped to a late defeat at Welling in the National League South.

The defining moment arrived six minutes before the interval, when a long throw from Dean Moxey caused mayhem in the home penalty area and Cody Cooke pounced from close range, but the assistant’s flag, bizarrely, ruled out the goal.

Strikes from Charlie Pegrum and Gene Kennedy in the final eight minutes eventually condemned the Gulls to a 2-0 defeat but United manager Paul Wotton, while accepting his side were below their best in the first period, was understandably ‘disappointed’ by the goal being ruled out.

Despite that frustration, Wotton is looking forward to a free week on the training pitch and the ‘distraction’ from league duties with an FA Cup trip to Bishops Cleeve on Saturday.

“The first half lacked quality from both teams and I thought we were slow on the ball, ponderous on the ball,” said the United boss. “Having said that, Welling were never going to score in the first half and we’ve had a stonewall goal [ruled out].

“We should go in 1-0 up.

“In the second half, we started well, Lirak [Hasani] hits the post, Cody [Cooke] hits the bar and their ‘keeper made a great save. We were on the front foot and totally dominating but their first goal was disappointing from us, the only time we didn’t double up in a wide area.

“Overall, I’m very disappointed but it’s still a good start for us after eight games. I think we need a little break, I’m glad we haven’t got a midweek game. I’m disappointed but, on another day, we win that game.

“We went a little bit too direct, missed the midfield at too many times, but we lick our wounds and regroup. We had too many players making fundamental mistakes, giving the ball away under no pressure.

“It has been a very intense start and the FA Cup will be a welcome distraction.”

Aside from the disallowed goal controversy, United probably edged the first half, without finding the potency that saw them sweep past Chippenham in midweek, Cooke forcing one decent save from former Gulls’ custodian Rhys Lovett.

A sweet strike by Hasani crashed against the post on the hour and a whipped corner from Matt Carson saw Cooke hit the bar, although Lovett appeared to get the final touch.

The game was calmly heading to a goalless draw when Pegrum found space from to slot past a stranded James Hamon, and with United piling forward in search of a leveller, Kennedy added a second on the counter.

United: 1 James Hamon, 5 Sam Dreyer, 7 Lirak Hasani (10 Omar Mussa 84), 8 Roddy Collins (2 Finley Craske 70), 9 Ben Seymour (11 Brad Ash 73), 14 Matt Carson, 16 Ed Palmer, 17 Finn Tonks, 18 Oscar Threlkeld (c) (15 Jadyn Crosbie 87), 19 Cody Cooke, 21 Dean Moxey. Sub Not Used: 23 Ollie Tomlinson.