Although still a tall order, Welling United kept their play-off hopes alive with a regulation victory over Weston-super-Mare.

After their disappointing performance at Whitehawk a week earlier, Jamie Coyle was delighted with the way they played against Weston. “In terms of our forward play, it was much better.” he said.

“I think that we have created more chances today than we have in the last four or five games which is really pleasing. The quality was there today. They’re not the biggest, Weston, we knew that from looking at the previous games, and we caused them problems from every set-piece that we had. I’m really pleased today. There were some real good performances out there.”

He continued “When we played them in the F.A. Trophy, I know it was a different side then, they were very, very good. I think they are one of the best footballing sides in our league. At times today they had good possession but we sat in and frustrated them a little bit and it worked.

“We caught them on the counter-break and could have had six or seven today with the chances we created but I’ll take that because we’ve been struggling a little bit in terms of the final ball and the end product. We had it today and it was just unfortunate that the keeper made two great saves in the first half that kept the score reasonable and there’s loads and loads to take out today. I’m really pleased.”

Going into a little more detail about team changes and substitutions, Coyle said “We’ve got experience in the side and I think that was what was important today was to get all our experienced players in. Hally (Ryan Hall) came in. Me, Mags (Magnus Okuonghae) and Parky (Jack Parkinson) at the back and your trying to get your men on the pitch.

“It was an experiment with Hally at wing-back. Get the experienced boys on the pitch at the important time of the season, at the business end, and we know that if we could get nine points out of the three games, we’ve still got a chance. I thought he did really well. He hasn’t played there for us this year and it was nice to see him get ninety minutes.

“He got a little bit tired towards the end of the game as you would expect but I’m pleased for him. It is tough because the amount of ground you have to cover, it’s a difficult position. I thought both Hally and Drives (Callum Driver) did really well today.”

Surprisingly, Joe Healy didn’t start but Coyle explained “Unfortunately Joe’s picked up a knock on Thursday and he’s not feeling one hundred percent and it’s managing him between now and the end of the season.”

Connor Dymond was cautioned just before half time, and Welling withdrew him at the break. Coyle said “The referee made another bizarre decision to book Connor Dymond and we can’t afford to lose him at this stage. We can’t afford any more red cards.

“It was a tactical decision to take him off at half time because the way that he plays, he’s very aggressive, controlled aggression, and at times he does pick up a few bookings but we didn’t want to lose him so we took him off and changed it.”

That gave Coyle the opportunity to bring Adam Coombes in. Coyle admitted “We could have started him. We had a discussion about starting him today but you just don’t want to throw him in and lose him long term.

“He is an important player for us, moving forward in the future. He hasn’t had a scan yet so we weren’t too sure whether it’s nerve or it’s actually muscular so it is just managing him and see how he feels after today. He’s put himself in contention for the next game. He looked sharp. We’ve missed him over the games that he’s missed.”

On Tuesday evening, Welling entertain Bath City looking to staying on the tails of the clubs in the play-off positions.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.