by Matthew Panting

Referee Ian Bentley took centre stage as managerless Welling crashed to defeat at Blue Square South Chelmsford on Saturday.

The Wings had two players sent off - their first red cards of the season - and a further three players cautioned by the official in a game that was never dirty.

Under caretaker boss Lee Protheroe, Welling started brightly and dominated the opening 15 minutes, deservedly taking a seventh-minute lead when Jack Parkinson drove home after Loui Fazackerley's shot had been blocked.

The game's turning point came in the 16th minute when Andy Sambrook caught Rob Edmans. The ball would have run through to keeper Charlie Mitten so it was a yellow card offence at worst, but amazingly the referee - having apparently shown a yellow card - then consulted his assistant who was even further away from the incident and raced back to show a red card.

Even with 10 men, Welling were rarely troubled until Michael Bakare's rash challenge saw Anthony Cook go down in the box and David Rainford converted the spot-kick via the underside of the bar to level the scores.

Chelmsford were then fortunate on the stroke of half-time that Cook's elbow on Parkinson was punished by only a yellow card.

Six minutes into the second half, Welling were denied a penalty when Steve Ward handled as Adrian Stone looked to race clear. It proved another crucial decision by the officials as Chelmsford took the lead in the 57th minute.

Rainford crossed and Edmans enjoyed good fortune when his near-post shot went in off the post and bounced over the line.

Welling's Steve King was then booked for a foul on Edmans, a decision that proved crucial when the card-happy referee harshly showed him a second yellow card for catching the same player with eight minutes to go.

Welling's misery was complete in stoppage time when a foul on Sam Hurrell went unpunished and Chelmsford broke away for Antonio Murray to lob the ball home.

It was a harsh scoreline for the Wings against a Chelmsford side who failed to impress despite their numerical advantage.

Bromley maintained their recent good run of form with a 3-1 home win over Woking.

Warren McBean got the Lillywhites off to a great start after nine minutes following an impressive run into the area, beating two players before slotting home. Ryan Hall doubled the home side's advantage ten minutes before half time with a free kick into the bottom left hand corner.

Woking pulled the score back to 2-1 after the break through Harry Arter, whose low left foot shot beat Gareth Williams on 56 minutes.

But Luke I'Anson calmed the nerves with six minutes to go, making it 3-1 with a curling shot after good work by McBean.

The result means Bromley climb to seventh in the table.