Tuesday night’s defeat at Bromley saw Welling slump to just one place off the bottom of the Vanarama National.

On Saturday, they entertain league leaders Cheltenham Town and will need to upset the form book if they are to get anything out of the game.

Although the Robins’ long unbeaten run came to a surprise end at Eastleigh on Tuesday night, they are still a point clear of Forest Green Rovers at the top having now played the same number of games.

Welling’s 2-0 defeat at Bromley means they have gone five games without a goal or a point.

Looking up at the injured Welling players sitting in the stand at that game didn’t make matters any easier for manager Dean Frost. Michael Chambers, Sam Corne, Zach Fagan, Harry Lee, Harry Osborne and George Porter would all have added competition for a starting place if fit and Frost’s squad of sixteen included two players not being paid.

Chambers may be able to come into contention but the rest will need to be assessed prior to the game, or not yet ready for a return.

It will be Cheltenham’s first visit to Park View Road since August 1998 when the Wings beat the team who were to be crowned champions at the end of the season, 2-1. In six meetings at Welling, the Wings have won two, drawn three and lost just once.

They will not lack knowledge of each other as the two teams met in Gloucestershire just three weeks ago. That game saw the hosts claim a pretty straight-forward three points. Danny Wright put the Robins ahead after 17 minutes and Dan Holman tapped home the second six minutes after the break. That proved to be more than sufficient.

Having scored just one goal in the last seven games, having not scored twice in a league game since their last victory back in mid-October, and without a clean sheet since they won 1-0 at Kidderminster at the beginning of that month, it looks to be a tall order for the Wings.

However, football has a habit of throwing up strange results and Frost will not give up whilst there is still a glimmer of hope.