After an eventful week, Welling United will take to the field at F.C. Halifax Town under new manager Dean Frost.
Last Saturday the Wings slumped to a home defeat to Barrow and as a result of the team not having won a Vanarama National League game for three months, the Board of Directors took the tough decision to terminate the contracts of the Welling management team.
Frost, Assistant Manager Barry Ashby and goalkeeping coach Jamie Turner return after just over a year away from the club. When former manager Jamie Day left the club to take up a similar role at Ebbsfleet United in December 2014, he took Ashby and Frost with him. Turner took over as short term caretaker manager.
Now, the three of them have a big challenge ahead as, following Altrincham’s victory over Woking on Tuesday, they now find themselves five points adrift of safety.
Solving Welling’s goal scoring difficulties maybe Frost’s first task. Having managed to score just 23 goals in 27 games, they are the lowest scorers in the league.
Travelling to Halifax won’t be an easy start. A couple of months ago, the Shaymen looked doomed but since replacing manager Neil Aspin with Jim Harvey, they’ve gone from strength to strength winning five and drawing four of their nine league games.
When Welling hosted Halifax in September, Sahr Kabba scored twice in a minute just before the break as they eased to a comfortable win.
However, the Shay Stadium has not been a happy hunting ground for Welling. Their two visits there, since being promoted from the Conference South, have both ended in 3-0 defeats.
There has also been some player movement. Welling have accepted Forest Green Rovers’ bid for Ben Jefford so Frost took immediate action by bringing in full back Noah Chesmain on a one month youth loan from Millwall.
He has also recruited holding midfielder James Ferry on loan from Brentford, also on a one month loan. Both will be available for the trip to Halifax.
Defeat could leave Welling as far as eight points away from safety so Frost will be looking for an immediate positive reaction.
Picture supplied by Dave Budden.