On Saturday afternoon Welling United host Torquay United in an important Vanarama National League South match.

Over the Easter weekend, the Wings picked up four points from their two Kent derbies and one more victory from their remaining four matches should be sufficient to keep them in the division. They won a scrappy match against Dover Athletic on Good Friday with Riccardo Di Trolio scoring the only goal.

Then they went to high-flying Maidstone United on Easter Monday. The Stones went ahead in just the fourth minute, and Welling had goalkeeper Reice Charles-Cook to thank for keeping them in the game as he made a string of saves from one-on-ones. Rod Stringer then made a tactical change of formation and arrested the flow.

In the second half, he made a further change, bringing on Jack Munns, and the Welling debutant crashed a great leveller from outside the penalty area.

For very different reasons, Torquay are also looking for points to ease relegation fears. Financial issues have seen them fall foul of the league’s rules and they have been docked ten points. As a result, they now find themselves three points behind Welling, and just five points clear of the drop zone.

Their Easter weekend was less successful with a three-nil defeat at Yeovil Town on Good Friday followed by a three-all draw on Monday at home to Weston-super-Mare. They were two up in fifteen minutes but it was back to all square six minutes after the break. There were seven minutes left when Arkell Jude-Boyd scored his second to put the Gulls back ahead however they only held their lead for four minutes and had to settle for a point.

When the two teams met at Plainmoor back in October, Torquay won convincingly. The Wings were the better side in the early stages and were good value for their lead through Kain Adom’s well struck drive. However, Aaron Jarvis levelled from the spot when Welling’s debutant goalkeeper James Holden made a hasty challenge on him even though, to the naked eye, it looked to be outside the penalty area. Four minutes later, Brett McGavin put the hosts ahead and the game had been turned on its head.  

Just shy of the hour mark, Shaun Donnellan volleyed the Gulls further ahead and Jarvis slotted home a less controversial penalty soon after. Jack Stobbs added a fifth directly from a corner and Welling’s miserable day was ended when Holden showed dissent and was shown a second yellow card.

This will be the first meeting between the two teams at Park View Road since February 2019. On that day, the Wings took the honours. Jack Barham put them ahead on the stroke of half time and David Ijaha scored the second goal six minutes after the interval. That was sufficient for Welling to claim the points and they would be delighted to settle for a similar scoreline on Saturday. 

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.