Following another unsuccessful road trip, Welling United are back on home soil at Park View Road on Saturday where they entertain Braintree Town.
Both teams are under managers starting the season with their sides for the first time. Loui Fazakerley and his management team rebuilt the Welling United squad during the summer after a season of turmoil.
Last Saturday, his young team came agonisingly close to claiming a hard earned point at Wrexham but were undone by a 90th minute goal by Dominic Vose. Although the initial feeling was one of disappointment, there were plenty of reasons for optimism.
There is no doubt that the players are getting to know each other more with every game, an example being the growing understanding between centre backs, Michael Chambers and Kevin Lokko.
Meanwhile, Danny Cowley has taken over the reins following the departure of former West Ham United manager, Alan Devonshire. Cowley had an excellent record at Concord Rangers, taking them into the Conference South, They then finished 9th in the 2013-14 season followed by 7th last term before he departed.
His first two games in charge of Braintree saw them lose at Chester, then at home to Lincoln. They claimed their first point of the season with a goalless draw at home to Tranmere Rovers before winning 2-1 at Bromley 1-0 at home to Southport.
Fazakerley was thankful to not have a midweek game, giving him, Matt McEntegart and Paul Barnes a full week to work with the squad. After the Wrexham game he said about the match with Braintree “We’ll be going into the game to win that game. We’ll work on a game plan and work on the training field and see if we can go and get another three points at home.”
Harry Osborne may be fit and ready for a return but such was the performance by Zac Fagan at Wrexham that Fazakerley and co. may have the luxury of a difficult decision to make.
In the corresponding fixture last season, the Wings came from behind to claim their first victory of the season. Jordan Cox put the Iron ahead after fifteen minutes but Welling levelled through a Chris Bush free kick three minutes after the break. Harry Beautyman sealed the win when shooting home with just over ten minutes remaining.
Picture supplied by Dave Budden.