Welling gained their first win of the season in Blue Square South at the fourth time of asking on Tuesday night - but they made hard work of beating nine-man St Albans.

The visitors had Solomon Shields sent off in the first half and keeper Paul Bastock saw red for a professional foul after the break, but they nearly left Park View Road with a point.

It had all seemed plain sailing for the Wings, who welcomed back Steve Perkins and he proved a key figure at the heart of the defence. That left Jack Parkinson free to play in a makeshift midfield as boss Andy Ford had seven first-team players missing.

Injuries to Ryan Johnson and Steve King, added to Jeff Minton's absence due to an illness in the family, meant Ford had to shuffle his pack once again.

But it seemed to matter little as they raced into a 2-0 lead within 18 minutes. Neat interchange down the left-wing saw Lee Clarke and Michael Deane (pictured) exchange passes and the latter fired home into the roof of the net after eight minutes.

Clarke joined him on the scoresheet against his former club, heading in Deane's excellent free-kick.

Clarke and Parkinson both went close before St Albans, who looked at odds with themselves throughout, were reduced to 10 men when Shields was sent off after jumping in on Perkins.

Wings keeper Charlie Mitten pulled off a great one-handed save to deny substitute Paul Hakim before Welling made it 3-0 just after the hour, Andy Sambrook firing home after Clarke had made space in the penalty area.

However, St Albans responded almost immediately when substitute Darren Quinton charged through the home defence to score.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men with 22 minutes left when keeper Bastock hauled down Clarke after a weak back header left the striker in.

Despite playing with nine men, St Albans pulled another goal back through Quinton's penalty with 15 minutes left to set up a nervy finale for the home side.

Bromley suffered a third successive defeat after losing 6-1 at Eastleigh. Andy Forbes scored the opener before Bromley's Gareth A Williams levelled.

However, goals from Jamie Brown, Tom Jordan, a Forbes penalty, Peter Adeniyi and Aaron Martin wrapped up a convincing win for Eastleigh.