Much changed Welling United put in a much improved performance at league leaders Wealdstone but still left with nothing to show for it.

New manager, Bradley Quinton was not too disheartened by what he had witnessed despite the result. “(I was) pleased with the way we played today.” he said “The energies were a lot better. The work ethic was another twenty percent up on what we have been producing in recent weeks.

“To come here and pin them back, even though they were down to ten men, we were a threat. Balls in the box in between the centre halves and goalkeeper, nine times out of ten someone’s there to put that in. When you’re struggling, centre forwards are not thinking the balls like that are going to come into the box so they don’t gamble. Now they’re seeing that, and now we can work on things like that.”

Four new players were introduced to the squad and Quinton was delighted with their impact. “It was great debuts for the boys who came in.” he purred. “Harold Joseph, Cameron (James), Diaz Wright were superb, the energy they allowed us to play. We’ve still got a bug in the camp as well. A few of the boys are still carrying coughs and flu. I’m proud of what they’ve done today even when the skip (Rob Swaine) went off. I thought he was superb as well but he jarred his knee in the first half.”

Swaine’s injury shouldn’t keep him out too long. “I think it’s just an injury jar.” he explained. “When he went to kick the ball in the first half, the lad planted his foot. We’ll look after him and get him back for Saturday.”

Having spoken to the Wealdstone management after the game, Quinton said that they were relieved to have got the win. “I know Dean (Brennan) and Stu (Maynard) really well and they said that they’re glad they’ve got that out of the way because of the way we play, my teams. I think that the fans are happy as well.”

One big talking point was in the first half with the scores still level. Korrey Henry caught Jerome Okimo in possession and looked to be clear to run at goal only to be taken down by the Wealdstone captain. Only a yellow card was brandished. Quinton said “The little things like that, we’re away from home and we’re near the bottom, you don’t normally get that little bit of luck.”

However, Henry drew praise from his manager who said “I thought he did very well. I thought he stayed more inside in the centre of the park rather than keep going wide, wide, wide and back and back and back.”

When arriving at the club, Quinton was surprised that the team only trained once a week and that’s something that he is changing immediately. “(We will train) on Monday or Tuesday. The opportunity is there for them (the players) to decide whether it’s Monday or Tuesday. No excuses. I expect them to be in unless they’re working. I’m looking forward to seeing their faces. They’ll enjoy it and we go again on Thursday.”

There could be further reinforcements before next weekend. “I’m working closely with Mark (Goldberg), the chairman, and the board. We’ll always stay within the budget. Possibly, we’ll see one or two over the line before Saturday’s game.”

Even if there are no new players, there will be an addition to his back room staff with a goal-keeping coach coming in. “From today, he’s announced that he’ll be leaving his club and joining us. Wilksy (Dan Wilks) knows that there will be someone else around to work with him.”

Pictures supplied by Dave Budden.