On Saturday, Welling United are on the road with a trip to Chesham United in the Vanarama National League South.

It’s the hosts first season in the division and they have settled in well, occupying fifteenth place at present. They have hit the magic fifty point mark and should be able to enjoy a stress free remainder of the season. 

That is most certainly not the case for the Wings who are still five points adrift of safety. However Brian Statham’s team will battle to the end, as was evident in their most recent league game.

Hosting league leaders Worthing, few would have expected the team at the bottom of the form table to defeat the team at the top but that is exactly what happened. Gene Kennedy scored a goal in each half, both created by Sam Cornish, and Rhys Lovett made a couple of crucial saves to preserve Welling’s clean sheet, only their seventh of the season.

Meanwhile, Chesham were visiting Weston-super-Mare where they dented the hosts’ play-off aspirations with a one all draw. They went behind shortly after half time however equalised through Nathan Minhas with eighteen minutes remaining.

It will be the return game between Welling and Chesham this season as they met at Park View Road in August. The visitors were by far the better team and went one-nil up through Mitchell Weiss midway through the first half. On the hour mark, Welling’s task became harder when Martell Taylor-Crossdale was dismissed.

Although it took the Generals until twelve minutes from the end to add a second, through Omar Rowe, they ensured victory when Weiss scored again with five minutes remaining. Dan Martin pulled one back deep into stoppage time but that was no more than a consolation.

At home, Chesham have won eight, drawn three and lost nine. Welling’s away record isn’t great  having only enjoyed three wins and three draws. They have lost fourteen times on the road. The Generals’ form over the last six games is two wins and a draw while Welling have recoded just one win and a draw.

Statham has a newcomer to his squad with striker Tyrese Briscoe having signed from Wingate and Finchley. He comes into the squad to replace Anthony Grant who left the club earlier in the week.

The Welling manager will monitor the fitness of Chiori Johnson, Martin, and Dave Winfield before selecting his starting line-up for the crucial game.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.