Having guaranteed safety five days earlier, a much changed Welling United side fell to defeat at Concord Rangers. Despite the fact that there was no stress, manager Warren Feeney wanted to finish on a high note.
Shortly after the final whistle he said: “I’m pleased that we got over the line. I don’t know what the other scores were because I never focus on it but the hard work was done that’s why I said to the boys ‘come and enjoy it’ but I’m disappointed with the goals that we conceded.
“People don’t realise how hard it is when you’re down at the bottom, fighting, but it’s not nice. You don’t want anyone to be relegated but one had to go down and we had to make sure that we kept ourselves in the position to get over the line.”
Feeney explained “Me being me I was disappointed because we were comfortable. It’s a game that we could have won, if I’m being honest, but I said to the players in there, it’s habits. I said you don’t do the little things right and that’s what happens. The big things cost you. That’s closing balls down, reading situations, not trying to do Cruyff turns in the middle of the pitch. The things that got us joy in the first half, they didn’t do right in the second half and I’m disappointed the way it finished.”
He continued “I’m a big believer in fitness. If you’re fit, you’re mentally fit. It’s a game for ninety, ninety plus minutes and we didn’t concentrate for ninety plus minutes. One, we should have stopped the cross, we should have stopped the ball travelling. It went about sixty yards before we reacted and then we let the person cross it in too easily, then you have the marking in the box. That’s the disappointing thing, it was too easy but at the end of the day I can’t spoil it because they’ve been good for me since I’ve come in. We’ve got to where we should be. No matter whoever comes in, or what, we’ve got to build for next season.”
It wasn’t a full strength first eleven, but Feeney was not looking to make excuses “I rested a few, and Dipo’s (Akinyemi) been injured. It was one of those games to give other people a chance and I thought some of them did very well, but just looking at the goals, no matter who comes in, I expect them to come in and dominate and we didn’t do that for the last twenty minutes of the game.”
Whether Feeney will still be manager of the Wings after the summer is uncertain “I’ll speak to the club but I’ve enjoyed it here. The fans have been brilliant with me. I’ve given them something to cheer, hopefully, but I’ll have that discussion.
“No-one knows in football. You can’t tell what’s going to happen tomorrow. They’ll ask me questions. I’ve got to ask them questions. I’m not one to say ‘Oh yeah, it’s great. I want to stay here’ as that’s not football, that’s not life. I’m as straight as they come. If they can match what I want then I’m sure that they are going to ask a few things. I don’t see that there’s going to be a problem but there’s a few discussions to be made yet.”
Other clubs have already started to recruit for next season and Feeney already has ideas for if he stays at the Club. He said “You want to go away and have your break but you get your week off and then it’s bang at it and see who’s available and from the team’s going up, who’s on the fringes so I don’t think you can wait around in football nowadays.
“You’ve always got players and you’ve got an idea on who you’d like to keep. We’re not blessed with massive budgets like teams in this league. We’ve got to be in a position where we’re one of these who can sneak in and be competitive but that’s conversations that I’ve got to have with the board.”
Pictures supplied by Dave Budden.