Following two consecutive victories Welling United entertain Braintree Town on Saturday with renewed confidence.

Their comfortable 3-0 win against Eastbourne Borough was followed by a hard fought one at Poole Town.

Saturday’s game with Braintree will be different again. Whilst both Eastbourne and Poole are struggling this season, the Iron are challenging for the title.

Last week at Poole, Welling had to roll their sleeves up and battle for the points. The Pirates’ previous two games were postponed due to an unfit pitch, and their attempt to stage one on Tuesday night suffered the same fate. Unsurprisingly, the pitch for the game that did go ahead was very heavy.

Added to that, there was a swirling wind so the game was never going to be a classic. Harley Willard put Welling ahead after just three minutes but with under quarter of an hour on the clock, Poole were 2-1 up. Welling then had to dig in and were happy to get in at the break ahead.

After the interval the Wings had the better of the conditions and took advantage. Callum Driver went on a run down the wing, cut into the penalty area, and was tumbled by a rash tackle. Bradley Goldberg stepped up and converted confidently.

He then feasted on a great through ball from Archie Johnson and tucked it away into the bottom corner to put Welling ahead. Although Poole through players forward and huffed and puffed towards the end, Welling defended well and didn’t look too troubled.

Surprisingly, Braintree were beaten at home by Hemel Hempstead Town last Saturday but are still fifth in the league, five points behind leaders Dartford. They have lost ground slightly having drawn four of their five games before that although the other was an impressive 4-0 victory over East Thurrock United.

When the two teams met in September, Welling were pleased to escape with a 1-1 draw. Phil Roberts put the Iron ahead after 26 minutes but Jeffrey Monakana scored an excellent equaliser nine minutes later.

In the second half, Welling had to defend well and goalkeeper Dillon Barnes was the busier. After Joe Healy was dismissed for two bookable offences, Braintree through caution to the wind but were unable to claim the winner.

Since Christmas, there have been a number of personnel changes at Park View Road but it appears to have settled down this week and there’s a possibility that Jamie Coyle could name an unchanged team for the first time this season.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.