Welling United tasted defeat following a late Dover Athletic goal on Saturday, but Manager Mark Goldberg believes his side deserved much more.

The Wings levelled the game at 1-1 in the 61st minute from the penalty spot, but Oscar Gobern’s 86th minute finish gave Dover the win.

Goldberg certainly felt as though the hosts should have got more. “There was a time when I was thinking we should be three one up.” he explained. “It hurts and it shouldn’t because winning’s not everything in pre-season but the boys definitely deserved to get something out of the game. A draw would have been a little bit harsh on us and to concede right at the end the way that we did.

“In all fairness, I made a few changes and when you make changes it does disrupt things and I had to (in) the last ten. I’ve got to look after the players more than I’ve got to look after the scoreline but it’s just a bit frustrating.

“We’ve got a young lad, Ex Bizma, he’s only eighteen. He’s going to take time and he is one of those that we will get him at a club somewhere and be watching him over the next few years. I have to rest certain players and to be honest, I don’t think we would have conceded at the end if I hadn’t made those changes.”

Earlier in the week, it had been reported that Lewis Chambers had signed dual registration with Sittingbourne. Although that is the intention, he has not yet signed for Welling. Explaining his absence from this game, Goldberg declared “I said he could play with his primary team today. I wasn’t going to be able to use him. I wanted to give Montel (Agyemang) a good run and I thought he did very well today. I’m really pleased with him.”

Another player who has stayed on from last season, Julien Anau, is giving Goldberg a bit more food for thought. “We’re still trying to find our way with Julien at the moment.” he said. “There’s a language barrier there and we’re still trying to work out his best position.

“I think when Cookie (Anthony Cook) went into the number ten role, he got a lot closer to Joshua (Oyinsan), our new boy, and we imposed ourselves a bit more and we played the better shape that we asked them to play. It’s very difficult when some players don’t quite understand even though I got my pen and pad out earlier and went through it with him, but he’s still going to be an asset to us, I’m sure.”

Expanding on new signing Oyinsan, Goldberg said “I was extremely pleased with Josh. He’s giving us something different that we don’t have. On the main he won his headers and we were able to get in behind. He worked hard enough, he’s a bit of a handful. I think he’s going to be more of a handful when he’s fitter.

“He almost made the penalty for us as he went out wide and won the ball and he played the sensible ball inside. You think of a player of that sort of stature, to be a thinking player as well, I think he’s going to be a real asset for us. I’m really pleased.”

There were a number of players missing and Goldberg provided an update, “We had a few players out.” he said. “Adam Coombes is still not quite right. Hopefully, he’ll be right for the last pre-season game.

“Brad (Goldberg) is actually at a family commitment so he wasn’t available. Nathan Green’s not quite right. Also a bit of a lower hamstring injury, Rob Swaine and Magnus Okuonghae both had different arrangements with family so we knew that it was going to be difficult today and we brought in two centre halves who I was really pleased with considering they were new and the back four hadn’t played together before.

“We contained them really. The first goal was poor and after three minutes, but after that I thought really, we certainly were worth a draw today although, obviously, points don’t count in pre-season. I thought these centre halves did well. There will be a time when we need cover so it was a useful exercise.”