After Welling United’s vastly improved performance at Concord Rangers, Brad Quinton, Welling’s manager explained what has happened since Saturday’s defeat against Chelmsford.

“The words that we had in the dressing room after the game for forty or fifty minutes, I think they listened to what I said in terms of performance for one another, in terms of commitment from a poor second half.” he said. “I told them the good things about how they defended well, at times, against a hard Chelmsford team and we stripped it back.

“We gave away a penalty in the first half with a minute to go so you put yourself under pressure. We had three one on ones, I call it, in the first half and you put more pressure on yourself. But it’s hard when you’ve only played three or four games, stop, start, stop, start and everything that’s going on in and around with people not knowing whether they’re going to get paid or if the season’s going to carry on. it’s tough. Not just for a manager but it’s tough for a player. I applaud their performance tonight. Their desire to work and run for one another was very good.”

Lyle Della-Verde has joined the Wings on dual registration from Enfield for his second spell with the club. He was outstanding against Concord and Quinton was delighted. “He’s a good player.” he enthused. “I had him before when he was at Braintree. He’s got everything. I will keep working him and get him fitter and sharper but I think that he was the key tonight.

“If you want my honest opinion, I think he was man of the match. I think he dictated it and the goal he scored was very, very good. The positions he was getting in were very, very good as well and I’m pleased for him. He’s a lovely, lovely lad and he’s a good player.”

When he was previously at Welling, he played as a winger but Quinton played him in a more central  midfield role and Quinton explained. “You’ve got to try and get the strengths out of people and if you have them as a winger and you don’t get the ball out to the winger, then they’re wasted. Wingers have changed now. You need to adapt. You need to be better during the game for your teammates.

“I think Ade (Shokunbi) was very good as well in midfield.” he continued “A very good dogged performance. Ryan Blackman had a good game as well. Overall, we were probably the better team at playing football and it was disappointing not to get three points then we go again and give away a penalty. It’s frustrating but we keep working. The harder you work, you correct these mistakes and that’s what you have to do.”

After conceding a number of goals from corners and free kicks recently, the Wings manager was delighted not to concede in that manner at Concord. “We were superb.” he said. “We defended aerially. Even for forty-four minutes against Chelmsford we defended corners . Every corner in the first half they had two out on the ball and then they went down with a minute to go and they had one person on the ball. We weren’t set and one person was on the wrong side of the ball and we gave away a penalty and it cost us but tonight when they put balls in the box there were people putting their bodies on the line. We defended really well.”

Having gone behind through a soft penalty early in the second half, Welling heads might have dropped but they went and looked for an equaliser and were rewarded three minutes later. “There’s confidence in the team but at the moment we’re not getting the rub of the green and you seem to put more pressure on yourself.” said Quinton. “The average age is probably about twenty-one, possibly younger until we brought in the last two or three. It may go up a little bit. You’ve got to learn. We’ve had a stop start season and it’s been frustrating. People don’t mean to make mistakes it’s whether you hold your hands up and of late, some people have been hiding. That was told to them and we’re looking forward to each game now and training on Thursday.

“People who know me know that I expect everyone to leave everything on the pitch. I did it as a player, myself. You can’t play well every week but when the going’s not right for you need to work hard and roll your sleeves up and put the effort in. If you play well in my team, you keep your shirt and that’s what the fans would expect if they were through the door. It’s frustrating that we only got a point but tonight, but I can tell the players that I was proud of them.”

Image courtesy of Dave Budden