On Saturday, Welling United will complete a tough first week in the Skrill Premier when they host Grimsby Town at Park View Road.

A defeat at Wrexham last Saturday that could have gone the other way, and an entertaining draw with Cambridge United on Wednesday, allayed any doubts that Welling can perform at this level following promotion last season.

Facing three clubs in a week who have all played in the equivalent of the Championship in the past has certainly proved an interesting opening but Jamie Day’s team have made a habit of defying the odds and the Mariners know they will not be in for an easy time.

Playing at Park View Road won’t be a new experience for some of the Grimsby team as they visited last season in the F.A. Trophy. They were pushed all the way before heading home with a 2-1 win after falling behind to a Joe Healy penalty. Grimsby came very close to winning the Trophy but lost to Wrexham on penalties in the final at Wembley.

That cup run distracted them from their true goal, promotion, but they still finished fourth and qualified for the play-offs before losing both legs by a single goal versus Newport County.

They have strengthened their squad during the summer with signings including former Nottingham Forest centre-half Chris Doig who has joined as player/coach and are many people’s favourite for the title.

Welling suffered a few pre-season injuries including Kiernan Hughes-Mason who suffered a training knock on the day prior to the season curtain raiser. He will be keen to take part on Saturday against his previous club. Day and goalkeeper Sam Mott may well miss out but loanee Blaine Hudson should be back in contention having been unable to play against his parent club.

Over 1000 paying customers attended Welling’s game on Wednesday, despite clashing with the England v Scotland game, and a crowd well in excess of that is anticipated on Saturday.