Two cup defeats in a week have given co-caretaker manager Harry Wheeler ‘clarity’.

On Saturday they lost to Lincoln City in the F.A. Trophy and on Tuesday their fringe players and youngsters stumbled to defeat against Cray Valley PM.

Their performance did little to put pressure on the regular first team players and only injuries can have an effect on the starting line up.

Wheeler confirmed that those carrying knocks should be fit to play. Pierre Joseph-Dubois took a knock just before the interval whilst scoring Welling’s goal against goal on Tuesday evening. “Pierre’s ankle, we took him off as a precaution. We discussed it at half time but everything we do was geared towards Saturday. He should be fine”

He also confirmed that club captain, Sean Francis, would be fit. “Sean was just resting today. Sean’s okay. He was slightly sore after Saturday but he got through the game and it’s not worse than it was last week and Rickie’s (Hayles) fine. We just rested Rick. He should be fresh for Saturday”

They entertain East Thurrock United this weekend looking to claim points to increase their buffer between them and the relegation zone which is currently just four points.

It will not be an easy game and Wheeler knows that anything less than 100% will end in disappointment. “We need to match them for work rate first. If we don’t match them we’ll lose the game.

“If you look at their record against the top six, they’ve not been beaten because they work hard. There are teams who think ‘ah, it’s East Thurrock, we’ll do better than them’ and they don’t work hard and get beaten.

“They’re a good side. I was impressed when we played them earlier in the season so, we’ve firstly got to match them on the work-rate and from there we’ll see if our quality goes on and wins the game for us.”

In that match, back in August, Welling claimed their first point of the season. Joseph-Dubois put the Wings ahead in the first minute but Welling tired in the second period and succumbed too a late penalty when Julian Banton was deemed to have brought down Joe Gardner. Ben Marlow converted.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.