Bradley Goldberg’s first half hat-trick helped below par Welling United to F.A. Cup victory over Tavistock A.F.C.

After the game, Mark Goldberg confirmed that getting through to the fourth round was more important than the quality of the performance. “I’m just delighted that we’re in the hat for the next round.” he admitted.

“It was all about just winning today, however it was to be, whatever performance we put on, it was just about getting the win. It wasn’t a good performance. I think that they played the better football. Losing two players didn’t help them either but I think in all fairness, Brad (Goldberg) was clinical in the first half and was the difference between the sides.

“Right from the start I thought we were too casual, giving the ball away when we didn’t need to and I think it’s fair to say that when we should have passed it and moved it quickly, we slowed it down so everything that we normally try and do well, we didn’t do well today but we got the win.”

Goldberg had plenty of praise for the opposition, saying “They came here and they’ve been on a good run. I know that they’re in a lower league but this team had some very capable players and their number eleven (Jack Crago), what a goal he scored.

“We knew he was the danger man. We knew he could cut inside on his right foot and do that yet we allowed him to do that but you’ve got to give him credit. It was a good goal.”

On the debit side, two awful challenges saw the visitors have two players sent off and Goldberg agreed with both decisions. “Unfortunately for them, they weren’t good tackles They were a bit naughty. To me, they looked like red cards.”

When the draw for the fourth round is made, Goldberg is hoping for another favourable tie. “We would take any home game.” he said “This is the round we needed to get into. The minimum we needed as a target for us was to get into the fourth qualifying round. We’re in there. We’ve ticked a couple of the boxes. Now, we want to go on a bit of a journey but if we play like we did today I don’t think we’ll be going too far. We know that we can do a lot better than what we did today.

“We’re desperate to get into the first round proper this year but the main thing is, we’re in the hat, as scrappy as it was, as poor a performance as it was, we did enough to win the game and you get upsets in the F.A. Cup. Luckily we’re not one of them.”

Luke Rooney has been allowed to go to Beckenham Town on dual registration to play regular football. Goldberg explained “Bringing Danny Waldren in, it was always a question that we would have to allow someone to go out on loan or dual sign and we’ve got more than enough centre midfielders that are available to us.

“Montel (Agyemang) didn’t even get a game today and he’s another great player who has done well for us. Luke was back behind in the pecking order and he knew that. He was very sensible and he’s gone out to get games. He’ll still be available for us in the London (Senior) Cup and the Kent (Senior) Cup and even first team football if necessary.”

Josh Oyinsan scored his first senior goal for the club and Goldberg was delighted for him. “He’s definitely someone that we believe in and he’s going to play his part this season. It will be upsetting for poor Coombsie (Adam Coombes) that he didn’t get on the score-sheet but we didn’t need him to. He’s had a bit of a cold for the last two days so it didn’t do any harm to bring him off and let Josh have a bit of a run.”