Although Welling United were the better team, two defensive errors cost them dearly as Wealdstone claimed the three points.

Immediately after the match, Mark Goldberg expressed his thoughts. “(I am) really disappointed that we didn’t get something from the game.” he said “First half, I think we were the better of the two. I think in the second half they certainly had a spell but in all honesty we just gave away two (goals).

“I don’t think we can even explain or justify how we let a player free with a free header from a set piece and to concede like that when we were playing as well as we were. We were so much in the game. We believed we could win this game, not just get something out of the game, and we let ourselves down by giving away two very sloppy goals, especially the first goal.”

Goldberg was also concerned with their failure to convert dead ball situations into clear cut chances. He said “From the set pieces we had, I think we tested the keeper twice from set pieces when we must have had nine or ten. The quality wasn’t there and we need to work on that on the training ground.”

Although his team were defeated, Theo Widdrington made his Welling debut and put in an outstanding performance. “Theo Widdrington was excellent and I think he was just tiring.” said Goldberg. “It’s a lot for a player that hasn’t played a lot of ninety minutes, although he trains every day, and I thought when Jebby (Jack Jebb) came on he replaced him extremely well so it’s great that we’ve got those options.”

Continuing about Widdrington he said “We knew that we weren’t quite playing round pegs in round holes in the centre of the park in the formation we play. We needed players that can both put their foot on the ball and play, but also have a bit of steel about them.

“We knew we hadn’t quite got that right but I think that with Theo joining us and with Connor (Dymond) coming back from his suspension, and also with Jebby getting back fit, and also with Montel (Agyemang) playing as well as he’s playing, we’ve now got those options. It’s just a shame that we’re so far behind where we ought to be.”

Twelve points from eleven games means that Welling are at the wrong part of the table but Goldberg is not unduly worried. “I did promise that we won’t be in a relegation battle and I’ve got to ensure that we are pushing on and improving all the time.” he explained.

“I think we’re going to see an improvement on where we are at the moment, I really believe that. I’ll be very disappointed if we’re not in sight of the play-offs in February time. I know that everybody’s talking about the formation but we didn’t lose today because of the formation. They (the Welling players) did really well in midfield today and we created chances.”

Any suggestion that the full backs can be left exposed was refuted by Goldberg. “They (wingers) do double up most of the time and if they don’t they get told that they have to. If they tire, the wingers, in our formation we replace them with wingers that have the energy to do it. I think that all in all, the whole point of four-four-one-one is that the wingers tuck in and they help out the full backs.”

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.