Defeat at Oxford City was not how Welling United hoped to start the season but they have an opportunity to make an immediate response with a Tuesday evening home game against Bishop’s Stortford.
All the big decisions appeared to go against the Wings with Oliver Sprague twice being adjudged to have conceded penalties but he refused to feel sorry for himself. “It’s all motivation. First, a definite penalty. Tried to stop him (Godfrey Poku) from tapping it in. Second one, I was expecting a free kick to us. Very harsh.”
They might have been awarded one of their own when Sean Francis appeared to be wrestled to the ground by goalkeeper Jack Stevens, but nothing was given.
Bishop’s Stortford also suffered penalty heartache on Saturday. Newly promoted Hampton and Richmond Borough claimed the points with an 89th minute spot kick, converted by Tom Jelley.
The visitors have two players who have represented Welling on loan. Jon Nouble started against the Beevers and goalkeeper Tom Lovelock was on the bench.
It is unlikely that any of the Welling absentees will be back in contention for this game. George Allen is progressing well but is still a few weeks away from a return whilst Pierre Dubois-Joseph and Ricky Hayles may be available for the Wings next Saturday.
Welling manager, Mark Goldberg, will be looking for a quick response to Saturday’s disappointment. “We’ll expect to make sure that we give a good performance and get some points on the board, at least a point on the board, to get us going.”
When considering the possibility of changing the team, unsurprisingly he said “I haven’t lost any confidence, whatsoever, in any of them. They’ll get as much time as they need, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I won’t pull them out before I put them back in. We’ll carry on working with them because we believe in them all.”
Images courtesy of Dave Budden