It was a good start for Welling United as they beat Aveley in the opening fixture of the season leaving manager Rod Stringer pleased with what he’d seen.

Rod Stringer spoke after the match, and said: “We’ve had to put a tough shift in here today against a tough team. Danny (Scopes)’s kept a lot of them from last year when they made the play-offs. They’re a really awkward team to play against. They’re very fit. They have a way of playing and they don’t give you a minute’s rest. To get that result is a fantastic start to the season.

“David Winfield and the goalkeeper (Rhys Lovett) were very good today, dealing with a very direct side. I thought he took his crosses well, he was commanding, I thought his shot stopping was good. I thought that he had a very, very good debut. He’s going to be over the moon to keep a clean sheet. He’s got a great attitude.”

Martell Taylor-Crossdale scored the only goal which will be a contender for goal of the season. Stringer purred “Martell’s got that in his locker. He’s hit an absolute worldy and that was probably going to be the difference today to win the game.

“We went with a system today because we played so well against Ebbsfleet, I thought that it was a really great performance, but the pitch was probably a bit wetter and allowed us to play against Ebbsfleet and we were very good with the ball. We never got to that stage of being good with the ball today so it became a little bit of second balls, a little bit of a battle.” 

He also had praise for a player who was only signed on Thursday, saying “Daniel Martin has not really trained with us and looks really good because we lost Harvey Walker to a terrible injury and we needed to get a bit of left sided balance. Borgy (Oscar Borg) did well in the first half but I thought that when he came on he gave us a bit more width and pace and I thought his debut was excellent.

I brought in a right back (Kwaku Donkor) from Blackpool (on-loan) and we’ve got competition in every position now. There’s loads of competition in midfield, probably too much. We didn’t make too many mistakes on a pitch that was very tough to play on.”

He continued “If these boys can get the transitions right, we’ve got some fantastic footballers here. I thought that we had some exciting players here last season, Jason Adigun, Sonny Fish, but some of these boys that we’ve brought in are not a million miles away from that standard, and if anything, I think that they’ll kick on. I’m really pleased and going to Bath gives me and (Assistant Manager) Kev (Watson) and coach Jim (Stannard) plenty to think about but Bath know that they’re going to have a tough game and if they allow us to play, we’re a good footballing team.”

Finishing with a clean sheet gives a base on which to work. Stringer added “The idea in this league is to always try and get something out of the game. Certain games you can say that we got a good point there but the important thing in every game is to be in contention, and we’re not going away and making ourselves look embarrassing.”

Everyone wants to play in the first game of the season and Stringer knows that some will be disappointed to have been left out. “We were under pressure a bit because there was a problem with the Dartford Bridge.” He said. “One of them who comes from Essex ended up on the Woolwich Ferry and got here at quarter to two. Some of those who didn’t play will be disappointed. Some will be on the phone. Some will want to talk to me at training.”

Overall, Welling’s first opening game win since the 2018-19 meant that he was happy but he knows that there’s a long way to go. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but it’s a good start.”

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.