ROSS Hannah was ultimately the Mariners' hero again on Saturday – despite his surprise omission from their starting line-up.
With Lenell John-Lewis suspended and Hannah back to full fitness after a calf injury, the striker appeared to be a certainty for a starting spot against the Wings.
However, Paul Hurst had other ideas, opting to play Scott Neilson behind Jon-Paul Pittman in a 4-4-1-1 formation, and leave the frontman on the bench.
The manager's decision appears to have been vindicated, with Neilson setting up Pittman for Town's opening goal before Hannah came off the bench to fire home the second from the spot.
Speaking after the 2-0 victory, Hurst explained: "We were obviously missing that real physical presence up front in Lenny, so we needed to pass our way through.
"Scott naturally lends to that, dropping into little holes to get on the ball.
"I felt that worked, and alongside that I thought Jon-Paul gave us that physical presence – he won a lot of headers, held the ball up well and had a good afternoon."
On Hannah's arrival – and his goal within four minutes – Hurst added: "Sometimes substitutions go for you and sometimes they don't. I'm sure we'll be discussing a change that didn't work at other times!
"It's funny – myself, Dave Moore and the keepers walked across the training pitch on Friday and Ross was practicing penalties. It was almost as if he knew it was coming.
"He might have thought he had a chance of starting, with Lenny being out, but he'd only had 90 minutes midweek and it was just too soon – added to my reasons for starting with Scott.
"He's a confident lad and as soon as that penalty was awarded no one else was taking it – he dispatched it well."
Hurst was forced into another change – following on-loan Andrew Boyce's recall by Scunthorpe United – so shifted Toto Nsiala across to centre-half and brought Paul Bignot in at right-back.
Nathan Arnold joined Hannah on the bench after recovering from his troublesome calf injury.
With no targetman up front, the Mariners had promised to keep the ball on the deck. And that's exactly what they did, playing some bright passing football in the opening stages.
However, that didn't immediately result in a flurry of chances against a well-organised and physical Wings backline.
The hosts only had Pittman's sliced cross – which dropped narrowly wide of the far post – to show for their efforts in the opening 20 minutes.
In fact, it was the visitors who had the first real chance when Shaun Pearson attempted to hack the ball clear, sliced it, and keeper James McKeown plucked it out of the air near his goal-line.
Remarkably, referee John Brooks deemed that to be a backpass and awarded a free-kick six yards out.
Welling player-boss Jamie Day hammered that on target, but McKeown and Town's defence combined to divert his powerful strike wide of the mark.
The Mariners' first effort on goal finally arrived in the 28th minute when Neilson skipped inside and tested Jamie Turner with a 25-yarder.
Pittman then dragged a drive wide from similar distance before Neilson came within inches of poking home Scott Brown's centre – and then bent another effort wide.
Day planted a similar shot wide at the other end, but the Mariners had awoken from their slumber, and took the lead seven minutes before the break.
In space on the right, Neilson curled in a delightful ball to the edge of the six-yard box, and Pittman slid in to poke the ball into the bottom right-hand corner. It was a 'proper' poacher's finish from the forward, who did superbly to beat his marker to the ball.
That was effectively it for the first half as both sides struggled to string many passes together ahead of the break.
The start of the second half mirrored the first – although Town's Carl Magnay did come close to meeting a fine deep cross from the right, eight minutes in.
Welling then served notice of their threat as Day threaded a clever ball through for Tyrone Marsh to hammer wide of the near post. The substitute followed that up by clubbing another effort over the bar, moments later.
The Wings were in the ascendancy as the game passed the hour mark, but Town appeared to weather that mini-storm and saw Paddy McLaughlin fire wide from 25 yards.
Hannah made his entrance in the 67th minute, for Jack Mackreth, who had started well but then faded after the break.
Neilson, who had been playing something of a free role, appeared to revert to the right-hand side. But within moments he surged through the middle and played an excellent ball through for Bignot to chase.
The full-back got the all-important touch ahead of Malachi Hudson, and was sent tumbling to the turf by the Welling man.
Brooks pointed straight to the spot, and Hannah did the rest – drilling down the middle before celebrating with his young son in the crowd.
It may have been 2-0, but the game was far from safe, as Zac Fagan showed, having an effort cleared off the Town line.
Chris Bush was then lucky to stay on the pitch after a crude challenge on Craig Clay shortly after he had been booked for dissent. The defender was hastily substituted, with former Mariner Jamal Fyfield entering the fray.
Nathan Arnold and Craig Disley came on for the Mariners, and the attacker kept Turner honest with a fierce volley, which needing beating away.
McKeown then pounced on a stoppage-time free-kick from the impressive Day, but Town held on comfortably enough to register their third victory of the campaign – now for the derby…
