Two defeats in two games is not how Welling United wanted to start the season, but they are at home again on Saturday and will be looking to get their first points on the board.
They cannot expect an easy ride, though. Visitors Weston-super-Mare have won their first two games and will arrive at Park View Road bristling with confidence.
Starting with a 3-1 home win against Whitehawk, the Seagulls followed up with an impressive 2-1 victory at Bath City.
Against Whitehawk, they went behind early on through a Jason Pope but they equalised just before half time through Jake Mawford. Second half goals by Marvin Hamilton (own goal) and Shawn McLousky were sufficient to claim the points.
Then, at Bath, they burst into a two goal lead, courtesy of a brace from McLousky. Although the Romans came back strongly, they had to wait until eight minutes from time to reduce the arrears through Marvin Morgan, and that proved to be too little too late.
Penalties have proved to be the Wings’ undoing in both 2-1 defeats. They conceded two at Oxford, and another in the last minute of injury time at home to Bishop’s Stortford.
Welling manager Mark Goldberg will hope to have Harry Crawford back after he missed out on Tuesday. Pierre Joseph-Dubois came on for his debut following injury against Bishop’s Stortford and he will also be in contention for a start. Ricky Hayles also returned to the bench on Tuesday. George Allen will be out for a few more weeks but Bobby Devyne will hope to be fit for a return.
Goldberg is looking for an immediate improvement. “We need to pick ourselves up and make sure we’re more resilient. Even more importantly, we’ve got to be more clinical at the other end of the pitch in terms of our delivery. We’re not creating enough chances ourselves. We’re not playing with any confidence and we can’t paint over the cracks.
“Decision making hasn’t been good, by some experienced players and by some less experienced players. We all know that and they’re capable of doing a lot better. Now we’ve got to stop talking and we’ve got to deliver.”
Images courtesy of Dave Budden
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