On Saturday, Welling United’s threadbare squad visit fellow play-off chasers Wealdstone.

During the last seven days Welling’s squad has been decimated by injury and suspension. On Saturday, Danny Mills and Arnaud Mendy were both sent off and David Ijaha was booked for the tenth time this season. On top of that, Jordan Gibbons went off with a potential season ending injury and Richard Orlu strained a hamstring and is not expected back this weekend.

Then, to make matters worse, on Tuesday evening Lanre Oyebanjo lasted less than fifteen minutes before he also pulled up lame. Potentially, Welling could be down to their last eleven players on Saturday.

Against St. Albans, Welling overcame a poor start, conceding in the tenth minute but looked to be well on the way to victory after Josh Hill came on as a 51st minute substitute and scored in the 55th and 59th minutes. However the referee then took centre stage with some big decisions.

In the aftermath of Hill’s second goal two St Albans players came to blows and should have been dismissed for violent conduct yet one yellow card was all that was brandished. Then Mills went up for a high ball and was sent off for an elbowing offence that only the official spotted.

Even then, Welling looked to be holding on until they shot themselves in the foot by giving away a needless corner. From the delivery, Mendy conceded a penalty and was shown a second yellow card. Welling then had to hold on to claim the point but did so without too much trouble.

Then on Tuesday Oyebanjo pulled up in Welling’s London Senior Cup Semi-final at Harrow Borough. The game itself ended with Welling triumphing 3-1 through a Mills brace and a curler from Zack Newton. They will meet Brentford ‘B’ in the final.

Quite what team Welling will be able to put out at Wealdstone on Saturday remains to be seen. The result of Mills’ appeal against his dismissal was unknown at the time of going to press. There is also the hope that Nassim L’Ghoul may be able to return having been out injured since New Year’s Day.

When the two teams met at Park View Road earlier in the season, Mills rescued a deserved point for Welling with a last minute equaliser after Connor Stevens had scored for the visitors in the first half.

While Welling were winning at Harrow, Wealdstone were hammering Weston-super-Mare five-nil away which was all the more impressive as Weston had beaten title favourites Torquay United four days previously. The victory for the Stones extended their unbeaten league run to eleven games since their last defeat on 29th December. However, throughout that run, they have only won one home game, one-nil versus Hungerford Town.

In last season’s corresponding game at their ground in Ruislip, it looked as though Welling were going to leave with a point but former Wing Ricky Wellard hit them with a sucker punch deep into injury time.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.