In a trial game for allowing crowds back into the stadium, Welling United beat Erith and Belvedere in what was dubbed ‘the battle of Park View Road’.

Both teams play their home games at that ground and, for different reasons, were happy to get 90 minutes under their belt. Bradley Quinton’s Wings had been unable to play for two weeks, missing four games, as a result of a player having a positive Covid test. Their stop start season means that they have only played seven games while some clubs in the National League South have clocked up twelve.

After the game Quinton said about having spectators in the ground “It was brilliant. I woke up this morning and had another twenty five, thirty, percent in me to want to get up and out of the door and that was because of knowing that fans would be coming in the door. It’s brilliant. Football’s back.

“I think that with the performance today, in both halves, the boys did very well.” he continued. “They worked hard. They have been working hard with what they can do indoors with Zoom and workouts and stuff like that. The boys did well today.”

Thankfully, the player who had a positive test is now back and Quinton added “He’s well now. These things are going to happen again and again and again. It’s no fault of anyone. We’re doing everything that we can.

“You could see that today. We’re following all the protocol and things like that. All the boys have had their tests done and everyone came back negative and that was great, including staff, so we’re looking forward to it (resuming the season). We’re looking great.”

The restart could be a little later than had hoped because their next game on Tuesday may be postponed. “There’s snow on the pitch.” confirmed Quinton. “They’re allowed to play them.” A subsequent check on Braintree’s website confirmed that their games can proceed at present, but without spectators.

“We’ll play whoever we have to play” he continued. “If it’s stop-start, stop-start again during the season, we’ll do what we’ve got to do. The boys are putting in some good work and fair play to them.”

Circumstances have not only been difficult for the players, but also for Quinton and his management team. “It’s tough because I plan for an opposition and how they play and I watch time and time again.” he said “You think ‘I’ve got a game plan for that’ and then you stop again and it goes out of the window. Keeping everyone fit as well.”

Quinton concluded on a positive note, “That buzz of Conference South football, it felt like it today. Waking up in the morning and getting to the stadium. We’ll take this as four games unbeaten and that’s what we’ll focus on.”

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.