Determined Welling United claimed a hard earned point in their final Vanarama National League South match of the season played at Slough Town. Although their safety from relegation was already guaranteed, manager Rod Stringer expected nothing less.

He said “We knew it would be tough. (There was) a good crowd here today. I think it’s a great club that’s going in the right direction and Scotty’s (Slough player manager Scott Davies) done an unbelievable job so we knew it’d be tough. It was pretty much a game of two halves. I felt that the first half, a little bit wind assisted, they penned us in. Cookie (Reice Charles-Cook) had to be at his best in the first half. In the second half we had some really good chances.

He continued “I thought we were well worth a point. I was really disappointed with the penalty because I don’t think that it was at all but probably a draw was a fair result on reflection of the game so if we’d won it, it would probably have been harsh but I certainly think that a clean sheet without the penalty was justified.”

Reece Grant scored Welling’s goal after brilliant build up play involving Jason Adigun and Antony Papadopoulos. “It was a real team effort.” said Stringer “It was a great bit of football. I thought in the second half we really got the ball down and played better.

“I think some of the boys are tired and it looked like an end of season game for us in the first half. I felt we just looked off it. We never took care of the ball well enough. I don’t think we held the ball up well enough which is difficult in those conditions but I thought the back line was immense.

“I was pleased to get in at nil-nil. We came out and I thought that we had a good show. I don’t know how many (supporters) we brought here today but I just want to thank all you guys and all the supporters. Since we’ve been at the club they’ve been amazing and that’s really helped the players and it’s certainly helped us as management staff. We’ve had two defeats since we’ve been here. We’re unbeaten at home.

“To keep this club at step two, we know it’s a tough league and we’ve witnessed that again today against a really good hard working team with some threats out there. They’ve got some goalscorers and they don’t make it easy for you.

While the players can now think about holidays, Stringer has work to do. “A small break is probably having a weekend off. You don’t get breaks as managers, unfortunately. The players can now go and rest and give themselves a bit of thought for what they want to do next year. We’ve had the loans that have been outstanding for us. It’s a shame that Riccardo (Di Trolio)’s in a boot but he’s been amazing as well but I can’t thank those guys enough.

“It’s going to be a tough close season for me. I need to sit down with the players. We know what the budget is. It’s not going to be what it was last year so if players feel they can get a better deal elsewhere that’s a conversation we’ve got to have but we’ll keep the ones that want to stay and we’ll just have to rebuild. I always say there’s a helluva lot of players out there and not many football clubs, especially in the Kent area. We’ve lost Dover. We’ve lost Dartford so hopefully we’re a bit more favourable.

“Congratulations to Ebbsfleet on staying up as well. Danny (Searle)’s done an amazing job there. We’ve got a friendly with them. If players can’t make it at Ebbsfleet can they make it at Welling? There will be loads going on. As I said to (Welling owner) Howard (Prosser), I’m not one of these who jumps straight into the market.

“We haven’t got money to waste. We’ve got to be a bit shrewd with who we bring in and they’ve got to want to come and play for Welling, be able to train two days a week, and they’ve got to have the DNA that we’ve built over the last three months and that’s to work hard, we want to play good football but it’s all about putting points on the board.

He finished with appreciation for the owner “I want to give a big thank you for Howard because without him, I wouldn’t be here. So, Howard, that point’s for you.”

Images courtesy of Dave Budden