Following a good Easter weekend, Welling United travel to Tranmere Rovers looking to build upon it.

On Good Friday, the Wings arrived late due to traffic problems and were refused a request for a fifteen minute warm up period by promotion chasing hosts Eastleigh.

That was compounded by a harsh sending off for Michael Bakare with less than twenty five minutes on the clock yet they still came away from the Silverlake Stadium with a well deserved point.

Then on Easter Monday, their ‘bare bones’ squad recorded their first Vanarama National League victory since mid October when defeating Woking 2-1 at Park View Road.

Michael Chambers missed out with a dead leg, Kevin Lokko played through pain for nearly 75 minutes, and a neck problem troubled Ibrahim Kargbo every time he headed the ball. Zach Fagan, Harry Lee and Harry Osborne’s injuries continued to keep them out whist although named as a substitute, Reece Harris was unable to get to the ground due to more traffic difficulties.

As a result, rookie striker Luke Saggers made his first team debut off the bench, and when Scott Kashket limped off eight minutes from time, George Porter had to return from injury, possibly a week earlier than Welling would have liked.

Most should be good to return for Welling’s game at Tranmere Rovers. Manager Dean Frost will hope that Kashket is able to play as the Wings’ last four goals have come from his dead-ball deliveries.

Whilst Prenton Park is not an easy place to visit, Frost believes they can build on Monday’s victory. “I’ve looked at their results at home. They’ve had better results away from home than they have at home. I think there is an element of pressure on Tranmere. They’re expected to go straight up and return to the league, so maybe the pressure will be on them more than us.”

There was controversy when the two teams met at Park View Road earlier in the season, in a match covered live on TV. Rovers went ahead just after the break when Lois Maynard took advantage of some poor defending to float a header into an unguarded net.

However, Tranmere were then reduced to ten when Luke Sutton swung an elbow and Sahr Kabba fell to the ground. Although the referee did not see the incident, an assistant flagged and Sutton was dismissed. Little did the crowd know that despite the lack of clear evidence to do so, the red card would be overturned and Kabba would become the first person to be banned for allegedly feigning injury to get an opponent sent off.

What could not be disputed was the quality of Sam Corne’s stunning equaliser that gave Welling a share of the points and is a leading candidate for goal of the season.

Last weekend, Corne gave Frost a major boost by playing two full games in four days after a long spell out injured. The Wings manager said “He’s now played 50 or 60 games at this level. He’s good at making good decisions. He brings a control about the place so him and Ibrahim (Kargbo) now, there’s two players who’ve got a bit of calmness.”

If Welling can show that calmness at Prenton Park, and cause some restlessness from their expectant supporters, they are more than capable of coming back with a good result.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.