After losing two on the spin, Welling returned to winning ways with a solid second half display against Oxford City in what their manager, Mark Goldberg, considered to be a ‘must win’ match.

His pleasure in getting the three points could not be hidden. He said “Absolutely delighted that we got the win. There were times that we had to grind it out and we had to defend well but all in all I thought we kept our shape and we always looked dangerous.

“For the last twenty minutes (of the first half) we actually put our foot on the ball and start playing. We hadn’t really done that the whole season other than a spell in the second half at Billericay. We’ve had difficult games and we probably haven’t had the confidence to put our foot on the ball and play. We’ve been more worried about the opposition but that will come.”

He added “It really was a really important win today and where does it put us? It puts us in a position where if we get results in our next two games, it puts us back in the pack where we want to be. Anybody can beat anybody but these are games, at home, that we should win and in the end, I think we won quite comfortably.”

The game was not without frustration, though, one of which was the way that Welling conceded. Oxford had changed formation and introduced wide right player Kyran Wiltshire to combine with Josh Ashby. He missed a good chance before scoring to cancel out Connor Dymond’s opener. However, almost immediately after the equaliser, Cosgrave burst into the area, was brought down and Adam Coombes scored from the spot.

Goldberg said “I was about to make a substitution before the goal. I knew that Joe (Anderson) was left exposed on his own and Cookie (Anthony Cook) was finding fantastic spaces up front but he wasn’t able to get back and help and I was bringing Nathan on to do exactly that and they scored. It was so frustrating, but luckily Aaron Cosgrave was able to go on the other side and redeem the situation.”

After Coombes had converted the penalty, he followed up with a second goal to take his tally up to three for the season so far. Goldberg was delighted/ “He’s got that lazy look about him but he gives a lot to the team.” said Goldberg. “The fact that he can hold the ball up and play a typical hold up centre forward, and can get in behind and finish in the way that he can finish. He’s a great asset and it was only a question of time before he got some goals.”

Absentees for the Oxford match were Jack Jebb and Reece Prestedge. Goldberg explained “Jack’s been struggling because he’s over compensated for his knee injury with other niggling injuries. I think he’s worried about his knee. He hasn’t really got himself quite back. I think now that it’s a hip flexor that’s a little bit tight. We can’t risk it but we’re hopeful that next week he’ll be back in the fold.

“Reece would have played the last two games if he wasn’t suspended. Not necessarily today, but he’s not available until Tuesday. Today he was still banned. I’ve seen what I’ve seen in pre-season. He’s come back really fit and he would have played holding midfield if he was available but unfortunately he wasn’t.”

During pre-season, Welling used the dug-out in front of the directors box whilst the visitors had use of the other bench in front facing the left back/right winger at the end that the assistant referee patrols however they switched them once the league campaign started. Goldberg explained “We had an experience at Havant away where their manager was getting into the linesman and I thought I won’t get into the linesman but I’m going to stop the opposition from getting into the linesman.

“We’re a little bit more composed with the way that we talk to the linesman, maybe than we should be. I really thought we had two penalty decisions. Rob Swaine got absolutely pulled over around the neck and the referee gave a foul against Rob.

“Afterwards I tell the ref that it affects our livelihoods but what difference does it make? The result’s done and there’s not s lot that you can do.”