After Welling United had seen off ten man Braintree Town, manager Jamie Coyle explained the difficulties in playing against short handed teams.

“They got one sent off early and it’s a difficult game, sometimes, to break teams down.” he said. “When you’re playing against ten men, it’s always about patience. They had a go but the professionalism that the boys showed today, and the quality in the second half were phenomenal. I’m really, really pleased.

“We had to be patient because even though we had a lot of the ball we were a little bit lack lustre in the first half and a little bit frustrated. But second half we had a lot more belief, a lot more quality and we could have had five or six goals in the end. The boys who came off the bench made a massive difference as well.

“We pushed on and we looked solid, even when it was eleven against eleven. That’s one of the biggest positives. Yes, we got a clean sheet but we constantly looked like we were organised and hard to break down which, in the first five or ten minutes in a game recently, hasn’t always been the case. We talked to the full backs about maybe playing themselves into the game and choosing their runs, especially early in the game and they did that today and they got their rewards.

“We’ve spoken this week about conceding early and making individual mistakes.” he continued. “That’s what’s nice. The boys have taken that on board and everyone’s done their job. Everyone’s known their roles and responsibilities and that’s why we’ve kept a clean sheet today.”

Callum Driver put Welling ahead with a free kick that was similar to one that he scored against Dartford. Coyle joked “They call him “Hammer Foot’. That’s his nickname. He didn’t score many of them at Maidstone, I don’t think he was allowed on free kicks. Defensively, he’s so reliable. Going forward he offers so much, overlapping and linking up with Jeffrey (Monakana) and he showed his class with the free kick today.

Jack Jebb has found himself on the substitutes bench recently but he has been told that his chance will come. He didn’t do his hopes any harm when he came on as a substitute and scored a spectacular third. “The quality he showed with his goal, we know that he’s able to do that and he can play there (left midfield) as well as in the middle.

“He played quite a bit on the left hand side when he was at Arsenal, coming in on his right foot, and it’s an option that we’ve got.”

Due to Welling not having a game next Saturday, it was the last game of the one month loan for both Anthony Acheampong, Welling’s other goalscorer, and goalkeeper Jonathan Miles. Coyle is keen to extend both loans. “I spoke to Dulwich (Hamlet) We’re hoping we can extend ‘Ach’ for another month.” he said.

“We’d love to keep him for the whole season. He’s a great lad. I’ve worked with ‘Ach’ before and played alongside him. He’s a leader and he’s a winner and we need players like that in the squad.

“I need to speak to Ebbsfleet about Jon. He’s done really well. He’s kept two clean sheets in the three games he’s played. He hasn’t played much this year and he needs to get a run of games just to get that rustiness out of him.”

At present, Welling are having to operate with a small playing party following their recent budget cuts. Coyle said “We’ve only got sixteen in the squad at the moment and if anyone’s injured we don’t have anyone to come in. I think it’s going to have to be one out and one in if we want any changes but I’m really pleased with the boys we’ve got at the moment, every single one of them, even the ones that are not starting the game.

“Their attitude and commitment has been phenomenal and you want that if you are going to push forward and go on a decent run.”

The absence of Harley Willard stretched that squad, almost to the limit. Coyle said “Harley is ill. He’s got a sick bug. He rang us this morning and he wanted to come in but I can’t afford for the boys to catch a bug that’s going around so I told him to stay away and Nana (Christian Nanetti)’s come in and done really well so it shows the quality that we’ve got.”

Now, the enforced break gives Welling the chance to re-charge their batteries. Coyle laid out his plans for the next fortnight stating “We’ll do a rehab session on Monday, train on Thursday, and then potentially, on Saturday or Tuesday after, get a (friendly) game in.”