Welling United were defeated at Hungerford Town to knock them out of the F.A. Trophy in atrocious weather conditions. Although the result was not what manager Peter Taylor wanted, the performance was much improved on recent matches.
“I think that the attitude and commitment of the players, I’ve got no problem whatsoever.” he said after the game. “It was a difficult afternoon with the wind. It was a difficult pitch, so the attitude had to be right and I think that our attitude was right.”
However, that was not sufficient to progress. He continued “We still let in two poor goals, one was an individual error from Jack (Sims). I was disappointed with their first goal. Again, the team didn’t defend the kick off well so that was disappointing, but overall I think that we deserved to get something out of the game. The weather today was difficult for both teams, and I think that both teams showed a really good attitude.
Some good news for Taylor is that some players are now starting to return from injury so that there is more competition for places. Joe Muscatt played all but the last eight minutes and Danny Parish came on for the last five. Taylor said “I’m very pleased with the work that Elise (Hill), our physio, has been doing with the players.
“We knew that Joe could have an hour on Tuesday night and we knew that he could have a bit longer today. I was just too nervous that he would have too much that would set him back a bit. He showed today what a very good player he is so we need him fit for our league matches.”
One player was missing and Taylor explained “O’Shane Stewart was unable to play today because he is on loan from Southend and they are in the Trophy as well.”
In other player news, Taylor confirmed that Arthur Penney’s loan has been extended until 23rd December. Dipo Akinyemi’s injury to a ‘kicking’ muscle is being monitored and Terry Perkins isn’t too far away to returning so Taylor should soon have more options ahead of the December league games and the busy Christmas schedule.