On Saturday Welling United are back on the road visiting Hemel Hempstead Town.

Last weekend they played out an intriguing 3-3 draw with Concord Rangers. When they were two nil down they would probably have been happy with the draw but Joe Healy pulled one back and Eli Phipps added a brace to put the Wings 3-2 up.

However Concord weren’t done and scored an unlikely equaliser in injury time taking advantage of a catalogue of defensive areas that left manager Jamie Coyle frustrated.

They won’t be travelling short of confidence, though. They are unbeaten away since the first game of the season and have won their last four claiming maximum points at St Albans City, Gloucester City, Weston-super-Mare and Havant and Waterlooville.

Coyle is well aware of the challenge ahead, however, and said after the Concord game “They were one of the favourites at the start of the year. They’ve got some top players and it’s going to be a real tough game.

“We’ll look at the last two or three games that they’ve played and work on it on Thursday. It’s tough, but we seem to do better away from home at the moment and it’s a game that we can go into with loads of confidence.”

Both teams are on 30 points, Welling have the better goal difference in fourth place but the Tudors have a game in hand in fifth.

Hemel, unbeaten in five, did suffer one piece of bad news this week Their former Wing, Charlie Sheringham, left the club to join Saif Sporting Club in the Bengali Premier League in Bangladesh..

Ben Jefford will still be absent, suspended, but Coyle will have a number of decisions to make in other areas of the pitch. Kleton Perntreou may be fit to return to contest the number one shirt with Calum Kitscha and Coyle may recall himself after the defence conceded three last week.

Up front, Phipps’ brace off the bench may earn him a starting place but it would be harsh on Bradley Goldberg who worked hard against Concord.

When the two teams met last season, it was the first game for Welling following the departure of Jamie Day and Ady Pennock. They put in a lack-lustre performance and Hemel didn’t have to do too much to claim the points. Former Ebbsfleet midfielder, Jordan Parkes, put the hosts ahead with a seventh minute free kick. Jake Robinson made sure of the points with fifteen minutes remaining.

At that point, the Tudors were in the top half of the table and Welling were hovering above the relegation zone. This season, the two teams are far more evenly matched and the outcome will be far more difficult to predict.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.