Welling United manager Ryan Maxwell says there was no intent in the challenge from Nahum Melvin-Lambert which left Dartford defender Joe Tennent with a broken cheekbone as Wings win derby 3-0

Welling United manager Ryan Maxwell has defended his player after Dartford centre-half Joe Tennent suffered a broken cheekbone during Saturday’s Kent derby.

Footage of Nahum Melvin-Lambert’s challenge on Tennent, for which he was booked, has been viewed millions of times on social media, with calls for the Wings striker to be banned.

But Maxwell, who suffered the same injury during his career, says there was no intent and has broken down the incident in an interview with KentOnline.

Tennent is set to undergo reconstructive surgery on Wednesday and Dartford said the club “will explore official channels following the incident”.

“Nahum was running at full pace to what he thinks is going to be a block on a clearance because that’s what Dartford have been doing, going long,” explained Maxwell, whose side won 3-0 at Princes Park.

“He’s running at full pace towards a nearly-static player and as he’s incredibly close he stretches his right leg across, which you can clearly see. There is no lead with the elbow whatsoever, having seen it in slow motion.

“The player then checks to turn back on himself and it’s a heavy collision.

“It’s an incredibly unfortunate situation for Tennent, which we are very compassionate about, but ultimately it was an accident in a contact sport.

“Accidents and injuries happen all the time but there was certainly no intent from our player.

“Having spoken to Nahum he feels sorry for the lad, Tennent, but there was absolutely no intent.

“All he was thinking about was blocking the clearance.

“He was travelling at full pace and these things look a lot worse in real time until you slow them down and see there was no intent. His elbow was below Tennent’s shoulder on the point of contact.”

Nathan Cooper opened