Welton brushed off their Premier League opponents to storm through to the Semi-Finals of The Les Phillips Cup with one of their best performances of the season in front of the ecstatic Green Army.
Right from the kick-off, Welton piled on the pressure against Gillingham and an early chance from Anthony Conradi saw his goal-bound effort cleared off the goal line by Nick Cox. Welton's Captain, Chris Peck, then went close with a firm header.
Welton's dominance was rewarded on the half hour when an attacking run into the Gillingham box by Conradi saw the striker bundled over and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. Conradi himself took the spot kick and calmly slotted the ball into the net to give Welton a deserved lead.
The visitors responded and former Welton player, Ryan Gay, saw his effort fly over the bar. Just before half-time, quality play from Dan Cottle saw him tear into the area and launch a great shot, only to be denied by a brilliant save from Gillingham keeper, Sam Filkins.
Welton started the second half as they finished the first and within a couple of minutes of the restart, the ball was threaded through to Ryan Allen in front of the visitors' goal and he calmly lobbed his effort over the keeper to score Welton's second. This woke the visitors up and they piled on the pressure on the Welton defence and Ricky Scott did well to clear the ball off the line. Welton weathered the storm and started to probe the visitors' defence and were rewarded in the 60th minute when a brilliant run from Allen saw him beat off a couple of strong challenges and then turn and thump his shot firmly into the Gillingham net to score Welton's third.
The icing on the cake came a minute later, when Allen pounced on another through ball that dissected the visitors defence and he calmly placed his shot past the keeper into the far corner of the Gillingham net to score Welton's fourth and his well deserved hat-trick.
Welton now play another Premier League side in the Semi-Final, namely Willand, the game to be played at Welton on Saturday, 11th April, kick off 3 p.m.