It’s travelling time again for Welling United on Saturday as they head to North East Wales for the visit to Wrexham.
Last weekend, the Wings put in a pretty lack lustre performance at Macclesfield Town’s Moss Rose and got nothing out of the game. However, after a slow opening twenty minutes on Tuesday, the Wings were the superior team against high flying Eastleigh and were disappointed to only claim a point.
Strangely, going behind appeared to galvanise the Wings and whilst it may appear fortunate to profit from an own goal, the cliché that you make your own luck was apparent when Ben Jefford slung in a testing cross that James Turley could only knock past his own goal.
After that, Welling were clearly the better team and deserved to go ahead through Xavier Vidal’s first goal for the club. Sadly, uncharacteristic poor marking from a free kick proved costly and Welling had to settle for a point.
Having lost their opening at Bromley Wrexham defeated Torquay United 3-1 and Aldershot Town 3-0 before winning 3-1 at Kidderminster Harriers on Tuesday night.
Although Loui Fazakerley admitted “It doesn’t get any easier. It’s a very tough league with some big clubs.” the performance against Eastleigh suggests that they have nothing to fear.
“We spoke to the boys in the changing room. We said ‘if you play like you did from 20 minutes onwards, being brave, believing in yourselves with high intensity and high tempo, we’ll give anyone a good game.’ They all agree that if they give us a 90 minutes performance , why can’t we go to Wrexham and win?”
He confirmed that, of the players who missed out on Tuesday through injury, only Harry Osborne is likely to be in contention for a starting place.
Three players who have represented the Wings in the last two seasons will be in the Wrexham squad. Jamal Fyfield and Blaine Hudson may be competing for the same position in central defence but Dominic Vose is likely to start in midfield.
In the corresponding game last season, Welling were unfortunate to come away from the Racecourse Ground with nothing to show for their efforts. Harry Beautyman put the Wings ahead but a highly controversial red card shown to Jon Nouble left Welling short-handed. Wrexham took full advantage with Louis Moult equalising in the 84th minute. Joe Clarke netted the winner, with the aid of a huge deflection, two minutes later.
Should Welling replicate the performance they put in on Tuesday night (barring the first 20 minutes) their travelling supporters could make the return journey home in good spirits.
Picture supplied by Dave Budden.