Although it was not a classic performance, Welling United had enough in their tank to win at relegation threatened Hungerford Town.

After Welling had won at home to championship favourites Torquay United one week earlier, manager Steve King had said “We can’t go to Hungerford and give a performance below that. We need to come in with that sort of application.”

At Hungerford, his demands were answered with a display that was founded on their determination and their work ethic. Whilst describing the game as “Scrappy” and “Hard fought”, He continued “It was one of those that we needed to grind out. It was important with other teams (around them) winning and drawing. An important three points”

February was a good month for Welling and King continued “That’s three wins in a row. Three clean sheets. It’s four wins out of five. I think we’ve accumulated the most points in the league this month.”

It could have been different had Hungerford scored first, and they had a great opportunity when awarded a spot kick. “The penalty should never have been allowed. Their geezer was five yards offside. The linesman couldn’t keep up with that one. It wasn’t even close.” Dan Wilks ensured that it wasn’t costly by going the right way and saving the penalty.

Despite being in the bottom three, King knew that Hungerford would not make it easy and that if the attitude wasn’t right they would be in trouble. “It was everything I thought it was going to be.” He said. “The pitch was difficult but better than it has been before. The ball was bouncing (erratically) and we had to defend properly.”

Explaining why the influential Arnaud Mendy was withdrawn with fifteen minutes remaining, he said “Mendy was tired. He had a bit of a hamstring (strain). With all the games it’s going to happen when it all catches up with you. When you take Mendy off you lose your physical presence. He is a strong player. He does all the dirty side of the game that people don’t always see.”

Answering criticism from supporters that Mendy and David Ijaha can’t play in the same side he said “They’re different players. Mendy allows David to get forward. Before today we’ve beaten Eastbourne. We’ve beaten Oxford, We’ve beaten Torquay.”

There was a new name on the team-sheet, full back Olanrewaju ‘Lanre’ Oyebanjo, and King explained “He has played for Crawley in League One and was in the York team that won the National League play-offs to get to Division two. He is a class player. He has been injured for a long time and asked if he could train with us to get his fitness up. We have done him a favour and he’s done us a favour.”

Next week, Welling play fellow play-off hopefuls St. Albans City. King said “It will be a touch match but the last ten matches will all be. They will be ten cup finals.”