Victory for Welling United over local rivals Dartford sent the majority of the 1,900 plus gate home happy.
Manager Steve King was delighted for the supporters even if the game didn’t have quite the same significance for him. He said “It’s just another game to me but to the supporters it’s everything.”
Looking around the ground and seeing so many people was great and he would love to see the crowds grow. He said “Our home form has been outstanding and they’ve got nothing to grumble about here. Our home form is exceptional. We play good football and we keep them entertained.”
It’s not just the support at the game that made him grateful though, and he was keen to thank the supporters for other assistance, in particular funding. When Jordan Gibbons was injured at Hemel Hempstead Town, he was left without a natural right back in the squad as Danny McNamara’s loan spell had expired and he had no budget room left to re-sign him.
“The supporters have kindly helped out on that one. They’ve sponsored Danny coming in which is fantastic and I’d like to thank them because they’ve made it possible for us. We all need to pull in the same direction and understand and realise that we need a bit of help. They’ve come up with that and I’d really like to thank them for bringing Danny in.”
McNamara was part of an impressive back line which gave Welling a platform. King said “I thought the whole back four, and Dan (Wilks) in goal were solid, rock solid. We didn’t give them too many chances.”
He was also delighted about how Welling played in midfield. Dartford went for a 4-5-1 formation to try and outnumber the central Wings but they responded superbly and were the only team to create any chances in the first half. King purred “That’s the beauty of our midfield. We could take (Arnaud) Mendy out and put Dave (Ijaha) in and be as solid. We could take J.P. (John Paul Kissock) out and put Montel (Agyemang) in and be as solid. We’ve got the good core of people that we need to get us through this period.”
Once Welling had gone ahead through Josh Hill’s first Welling goal, Dartford were chasing the game and had to change things at half time. “They’d had one up top and packed the midfield out. They had to bring a forward on and it gave us more space.”
If there was one area where things might have been slightly better, it was in the finishing and Danny Mills missed two great chances before scoring the second that finished the game as a contest. “I said to Millsy ‘You were brilliant, you worked your socks off but you’ve got to come off with a hat-trick and taking the ball home’. He is disappointed that he didn’t get the two or three goals that he deserved.”
On the injury front King said “(Matt) Paterson has done his hip flexor. Craig Barrett was ill. Luke Rooney’s a swollen knee Jordan hamstring. We’ve got a good squad. If one goes out we can put another one in and it doesn’t really mess us up too much.”
Games are coming thick and fast with the next one being another tough one with Concord Rangers on Saturday.
Picture supplied by Dave Budden.