Following three consecutive victories Welling United entertain Gloucester City on Saturday with confidence high.

Their comfortable 3-0 win against Eastbourne Borough was followed by a hard fought victory at Poole Town. Then came a second 3-0 home win on the spin when they defeated Braintree Town.

Despite a poor December, and although back in ninth place, Welling find themselves twelve points off the top with two games fewer played.

Last week the Wings had a week off which was no bad thing with a threadbare squad. Their victory over Braintree one week earlier was excellent, though.

They were helped by a moment of madness when Ricky Gabriel reacted poorly to an innocuous Callum Driver challenge. Although it was goal-less at the time, Welling were already well on top.

Just after the hour mark, Driver broke the dead-lock with an excellent free kick and Braintree were still reeling when Anthony Acheampong bundled home after Nathan McDonald was unable to cope with Christian Nanetti’s cross.

Jack Jebb’s superb effort to make it 3-0 was the icing on the cake at the end of an outstanding Welling performance.

Goalkeeper Jonathan Miles had another quiet afternoon with his second clean sheet in three games before his loan spell ended. Although Jamie Coyle hoped to extend his loan, it wasn’t to be and Miles returned to Ebbsfleet United.

As a result, Coyle again had to find a new goalkeeper and has signed Bailey Vose on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion for the rest of the season. He has plenty of experience at Vanarama National South level having previously had spells at Concord Rangers, Dartford and Eastbourne Borough.

Acheampong’s loan from Dulwich Hamlet also expired after the Braintree game but Coyle was more successful in getting his spell extended for another month.

When Welling visited Gloucester earlier in the season, the most memorable aspect was the horrendous wind. There were few clear cut chances but the hosts had the better of them as Welling dug in. However, the one moment of true quality was provided by Joe Healy who finished cleverly for the Wings with five minutes remaining.

Although Gloucester now find themselves in the bottom three, Welling know that anything less than one hundred per cent could hurt them as the visitors will scrap for every point.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.