This evening, Welling United return to cup action when they meet Brentford B in the quarter finals of the London Senior Cup.

Having already locked away the Kent Senior Cup in their trophy cabinet after Josh Redfearn scored the only goal in their final with Ebbsfleet United last week, they now turn their attentions to the London version.

Unfortunately, they didn’t follow up their success in Gillingham in style when they hosted Hornchurch in the Vanarama National League South on Saturday. They needed a win desperately but looked lethargic and didn’t even raise the tempo in the latter stages. Their nil-nil draw leaves them seven points adrift of safety with four games remaining. 

To progress to this stage in the London Senior Cup, the Wings started in the second round with a three-nil win at Sporting Bengal United. After firing blanks in the first half, Martell Taylor-Crossdale put the Wings ahead eighteen minutes after the restart. Cameron Andrews added a second nine minutes later, and Anointed Chukwu rounded off the scoring in stoppage time. 

They then had a long wait before they found out who their next opponents would be, before Bromley progressed to visit Park View Road. In that match, the young Ravens side went ahead through Danai Hassan before Jack Burchell levelled five minutes before half time. Taylor-Crossdale scored the winner from the penalty spot four minutes after the break and that proved to be the winner. 

Having also had a first round bye, the Brentford B’s won two-nil at Redbridge. They then went to Newham where they enjoyed a five-one victory and have been waiting for the quarter final since December. They are already in the semi-final of the Premier League Cup and have won six of their last seven competitive games.

This will not be the first meeting between Welling and Brentford B. Their previous encounter was in 2019 when they met in the London Senior Cup final. Mohammed Bettamer scored the only goal as the Wings won one-nil. Some of the more long standing supporters will recall Sam Saunders who started his football career at Park View Road in 2001/02 and who will probably be in charge of the Bees for this match.  

Brian Statham, Welling’s manager, suggested that there will be a number of changes from the starting line-up that played Hornchurch. However, with a limited squad, a number of first team players will be required so it will be a reasonably strong Wings team supplemented by players who want to show their readiness for a first team place.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.