Brentwood Town made it three wins in a row and signed off 2025 in style with a commanding 4–1 victory away at Welling United on Saturday afternoon.
A devastatingly clinical first-half display from the Blues saw goals from Kymani Thomas and a Charlee Hughes brace send the visitors into the break with a deserved 3–0 lead.
The opening 10 minutes were evenly contested, with both sides looking to gain an early foothold. It was Brentwood who struck first, however, through Thomas. A throw-in on the left from Max Hudson was collected by the winger, who cut inside onto his favoured right foot before unleashing a superb curling effort from outside the box that beat Rory Browne in the Wings’ goal.
Welling looked to respond quickly and almost did so when Troy Howard forced Melvin Minter into a smart save with his legs inside the box.
Despite a lack of clear chances in the early exchanges, Brentwood soon doubled their advantage. Another throw-in — this time from the right — led to Alejandro Machado’s cross being intercepted by Jack Thomas. The Welling captain sliced his clearance into his own penalty area, where Hughes was alert to prod the ball past Browne, despite the goalkeeper’s best efforts.
Matters worsened for the hosts just a minute later as Brentwood made it three. Breaking on the counter from a Welling long throw, the Wings initially appeared to have dealt with the danger, but Lewis Chambers’ header back towards his own goal was gratefully collected by Hughes, who calmly slotted under Browne to complete a ruthless first-half performance.
Welling were not without chances before the interval. John Ufuah came close twice, first seeing his header from Junior Savane’s deep cross strike the post at the far stick, before Minter palmed the winger’s strike wide for a corner in first-half stoppage time.
After the restart, Brentwood looked to put the game to bed early and came close through Louie Johnson and Machado inside the opening five minutes. Hudson’s good work down the left set up Johnson, whose side-footed effort deflected narrowly wide. From the resulting corner, Machado fired over from close range.
Welling pulled a goal back just before the hour mark through Bradley Sach. After Ethan Kaiser was penalised for a foul in the Brentwood half, substitute Jamie Reynolds delivered a pinpoint free kick which Sach met with a thumping header past Minter.
Despite pushing for a second, Welling struggled to seriously test Minter again. Both Ufuah and Bangura squandered presentable chances, firing off target as the hosts searched for a route back into the contest.
Keith Rowland responded by introducing Jesse Olukolu, Benas Vaivada and Charlie Edwards with 20 minutes remaining, a decision that proved inspired. Brentwood regained control and almost added a fourth when Vaivada latched onto Matt Cripps’ long clearance, only to see his effort crash against the post.
The Blues did seal the win moments later through Olukolu. Another counter-attack from a Welling set-piece saw Danny Ogunleye slip a perfectly weighted through ball into the path of the substitute, who ran through one-on-one and calmly slid the ball under the onrushing Browne.
Olukolu continued to look lively and had two further chances to add to the scoreline, but was denied on both occasions by the Welling goalkeeper.
In the end, Brentwood comfortably saw out the game to secure all three points and head into 2026 sitting second in the Isthmian League Premier Division.
Next up for the Blues is a home fixture against Cray Wanderers at The Arena on Saturday 3rd January, with a 3pm kick-off.
WELLING UNITED:
Browne (GK), Majoyegbe, Ufuah, Thomas (C), Arthur (Walker 90+1’), Savane, Howard (Cundle 64’), Black (Bangura 77’), Chambers (Reynolds 56’), Sach (Addy 85’), Pepe
Subs not used: N/A
BRENTWOOD TOWN:
Minter (GK), Freeman, Cripps (C), Kaiser, Hudson, Agyemang (Edwards 75’), Machado, Johnson (Webber 86’), Ogunleye, Thomas (Vaivada 70’), Hughes (Olukolu 70’)
Subs not used: Aarons Royal
By Chris Berry
