Bradley Stevenson’s goal earned Welling United the three points in a hard fought game against Tonbridge Angels. After the game, Welling manager Peter Taylor was delighted with the result although he admitted that it was more a case of resilience than a great football performance.

He said: “I thought that Tonbridge started better than us to be totally honest. For fifteen minutes they were better than us and I was pleased that it was nil-nil then all of a sudden we go and get a good goal, very well taken by Bradley Stevenson. 

“That helped us and I think that after that we should have got another one but while it was one-nil it was a very tight affair. Both the teams are at the wrong end of the table to where they would like to be and it was a tense match and I’m just delighted that we worked as hard as we possibly could and that we kept a clean sheet.”

Stevenson wasn’t on the original team-sheet  but an injury meant that he was drafted in at the last minute. “Dipo (Akinyemi), who was going to start as the centre forward, all of a sudden pulled a kicking muscle in the warm up so he couldn’t carry on and it was amazing because I did say ‘well now Bradley, go on and score the winner’ and that’s what he’s done. 

“He took it really well and it’s amazing how things like that work out. We were disappointed that Dipo couldn’t start but Bradley took his chance.”

Jack Sims, the Welling goalkeeper, was awarded man of the match and Taylor was delighted with his performance saying “He’s the modern day keeper. He could play out on the field. He’s a really, really good footballer. Not the biggest as people would see but he comes to punch things that he can’t catch. He’s been terrific for us. He’s just got player of the month here as well. He’s been absolutely outstanding and he should be in the league, still.”

As preparation for the Tonbridge game, Welling played a midweek behind closed doors friendly against a Southend United Under 23 side. The Wings won that game but it wasn’t the result that was important to Taylor. He said “The majority of the players had forty-five minutes, four players had ninety minutes and they were the ones that needed it.”

Stefan Ilic has been recalled from his spell on dual registration at Tooting and Mitcham and Taylor admitted “I wanted to get him on but it was really, really tight but hopefully, we’ll get him on at another time.

“Whether it’s the League South here, or the Conference, or Leagues one and two, a lot more teams now play better football and they try and keep the ball and that’s what we’re trying to do but when it’s, all of a sudden, a very tense and nervous match, they sometime get a little too nervous to try it. I said to them that rather than hanging on, I’d like to show people that we can pass the ball in the right areas.”

Pictures supplied by Will Allen and Dave Budden.