Hampton & Richmond went down early through a Sonny Fish goal and were on the back foot for much of the opening 20 minutes. However, captain Jake Gray put the Beavers back on level terms in the 24th minute thanks to a Ben Seymour through-ball.
The Beavers looked set for yet another last-second winner as substitute Alex Gibson-Hammond was one-on-one with a Wings defender, but a heavy touch let him down and saw the referee blow the final whistle. In the end of the breathless affair, a point each was probably a fair result.
The draw leaves the Beavers fourth, and still solidly in the playoff spots, with 67 points.
The Beavers created issues for themselves early in the match giving away possession multiple times. The Wings took advantage of one of these mistakes to score the opener in the 11th minute. After dancing through most of the home side, Fish went one-on-one with Luis Fernandez and slipped the ball past Adam Desbois into the bottom lefthand corner for an early lead.
After taking the lead, Welling United kept the pressure on the home-side who struggled to get out of their own half. It was Welling United’s work down the wings that caused problems for the Beavers defence.
However, the Hampton & Richmond found the equaliser from some nice build-up play on the edge of the box. Seymour sent a brilliant ball behind the Welling defence to Jake Gray who calmly slid it into the back of the net.
Once level, the game turned end-to-end until a handful of Welling United corners late in the first half put the pressure back on the Hampton & Richmond defence. Despite a greater share of possession and chances, the game remained 1-1 going into halftime.
The second half started just as frantically as the first ended. Both sides had plenty of chances to add to the score line but failed to find a winner.
Fernandez and Dean Inman grew into the game and successfully took the sting out of the Wings’ attack in the second half. Critically, the pair mitigated the danger presented by Welling goal scorer, Fish.
Of note for Hampton & Richmond fans, an 81st minute substitution from Mel Gwinnett saw the return of Justin Thomas who had been out with an ankle injury since January.
The Beavers continue their playoff push on Saturday, March 25th at 3pm away at Torquay United.