Welling United’s unbeaten run in the league was halted at six games as St Albans City came away from Park View Road with all three points on Saturday.
Two first-half goals put the visitors in control despite a bright start to proceedings by the hosts, but a pair of errors led to the Saints taking advantage and heading into the break with a healthy cushion.
By the time they had bagged their third deep in second-half injury time, the result was a foregone conclusion as Warren Feeney’s men were made to rue those errors which came earlier.
An even first-half saw the Wings enjoy the better of the easy opportunities with Amadou Kassarate seeing a goal bound header clawed from underneath the bar by St Albans stopper Michael Johnson, while Antony Papadopoulos stung the hands of the keeper with a shot from a tight angle.
On the half-hour, Ade Azeez sent a glancing header narrowly wide from Taylor Maloney’s free-kick delivery, but that was shortly followed by a sloppy error which gifted the visitors the lead.
Maloney didn’t put enough on his back-pass to Myles Roberts in the Welling goal and it allowed Shaun Jeffers to finish a spilt task of rounding the goalkeeper and finishing into an empty net.
It got worse for the hoe side just before the break when they presented the Saints with another gift.
Sensing danger, Roberts left his box to clear up a loose ball with the visitors threatening, but he got not clear his lines with the ball falling to Zane Banton who kept a cool head to finish into an empty net from 22 yards.
Into the second half and it proved to be a frustrating 45 minutes to follow with the play being broken up by constant stoppages.
Neither side carved out anything meaningful as the clock ticked down with Manny Parry seeing a header bounce wide after a bit of head tennis in the box, while new arrival Yaser Kasim sent a free-kick whistling wide from distance.
Welling probably should have had a penalty when Azeez was felled in the box late on, but the referee waved away the appeals, much to the disbelief by almost everyone in attendance.
And in the fourth minute of injury time, George Morrell added a third for St Albans, diverting a low cross into the bottom corner to put the final nail in the coffin.
Welling will now have to lick their wounds and dust themselves off as they prepare for a trip to Ebbsfleet United next weekend.
Welling United: Roberts, Cox, Parry, Sendles-White, Ezennolim, Kassarate (Kasim 65), Dunne, Aransibia (Francis 52), Maloney, Papadopoulos (Olomowewe 70), Azeez.
Subs (not used): McKenzie-Lyle, Dickens.
Booked: Sendles-White 52 (foul on Jeffers), Cox 86 (foul on Moore)
St Albans City: Johnson, Stanley, Wiltshire, Clark, Jeffers, Banton (Morrell 90+1), Dawson (Isaac 90+1), Musea, Moore, Di Troli, Neal (Sundire 81).
Subs (not used): Cardines, Paul.
Goals: Jeffers 30, Banton 43, Morrell 90+4
Referee: Andrew Humphries
Att: 956
