New Welling United manager Lee Martin gave his almost entirely new squad their second outing when they visited Fisher.

Only Cameron Andrews remains from last term in Martin’s nineteen man squad, and he is now looking to work on getting them to gel as quickly as possible. They were beaten four-two at Tonbridge Angels during the week after a behind closed doors friendly.

Their game at Fisher was played in extreme heat and it was testament to both teams that they put on some entertaining football.

Although Martin has signed two goalkeepers, neither was available for this match and a young trialist donned the stopper’s shirt. He was beaten in just the third minute when he could only block Kesna Clarke’s shot into the path of Chibueze Innocent who tucked it home from close range.

Eight minutes later, Welling levelled when Ruben Shakpoke headed Greg Cundle’s cross into the path of Gil Carvalho and he gave Fisher goalkeeper Samuel Amedu no chance.

After a further five minutes, Welling went ahead when Lee Lewis found one time Fisher player John Ufuah out wide, and he cut in before firing inside the near post.

However, two minutes later, the scores were again level. Fisher’s Lorenzo Duncan was able to get in behind and he finished clinically.

Eight further minutes passed before Welling restored their lead when Jack Paxman sent Cundle away and he fired inside the far post. They doubled their lead twelve minutes before half time through Shakpoke’s lob from Luke O’Neill’s ball over the top.

During the quieter second half, there were multiple substitutions before Fisher pulled one back with fourteen minutes remaining. Charles Yiadom-Konadu delivered a deep free kick that Innocent leapt to meet at the far post with a close range header home.

Keegan Bloom came close for the Wings with a drive that flew back out off the inside of the post before an entertaining game drew to a close.

Martin indicated that there was plenty to be pleased about and also to work on. “(There were) Some really good bits.” he said. “They were completely different to what we faced on Tuesday night in terms of being very direct and physical. Once we got to terms with that, I thought we totally controlled the game. We conceded some really sloppy goals, some very poor goals, but I thought we were fantastic going forward, the combinations, rotations, some of the players out there, I thought were standouts, so it’s topping them up now and getting them into a place ready for August.

“These fixtures, put the results aside, it’s about building relationships. It’s still a new team and it’s still a very young team in terms of twenty-four being the average age. It’s not going to happen overnight. Even I have now come round to it that it’s going to take a lot of time to gel these guys.”

As neither goalkeeper was available, a trialist had to cover. Martin said “Fred stepped in there and made an admirable contribution. He’s a young boy, eighteen. I felt that he made a couple of errors in the first ten minutes, coming out for it and being a bit over zealous, but he bounced back and that’s what we want. It’s not perfect, it’s not plain sailing but we want players to stand up. We want good characters.”

Some managers like to have a specialist goalkeeper on the substitutes bench and Martin has the option, however, he may not go down that route. He said “With the sixteen, we like to have the option of outfield players but we have got, very much, strength in depth in that area so it’s something that we’ll look at. I’m very much one that’s proactive. If I get a feeling in a game, I’ll do it. I won’t just react to a goal or a decision.”

He is happy with the general fitness levels, adding “(The) Last two weeks have been gruelling with what we’ve tried to create on the physical side. You need to be fit to play in our team, it’s as simple as that, and the boys have brought into that. We test them. We’ve run really hard. We now let the games take care of that natural organic growth.”

Now training will be more tactics based. Martin said “Being younger you find out more mistakes and you are vulnerable to that but it’s down to us to teach it. As I said when I came in here, it wasn’t a transaction, it was a transformational coaching style that I was bringing youngsters through, trying to get them into an area where they’ve developed. Within the three weeks we’ve grown fantastically and we’ve just got to continue that process.”

Although nineteen players have been confirmed, Martin is still looking at possible additions. “The budget is where it is.” he said. “It’s not huge but we are always actively looking, searching for that maverick that pops up and there are loan markets that we’re going to look to venture down now. We spoke about when I first came in, calling in from contacts that I have. I still think we’re light.”

His team are back in action on Wednesday evening when they host Leyton Orient at Park View Road.

Fisher: Amedu, Sata, Macaulay, Kingson, Jones, Clarke, Nassor, Jumo, Duncan, Innocent, Williams. Substitutes: Hall, Yiadom-Konadu, Foloruson, Deh, Dada, Self.

Welling United: Trialist B; O’Neill, Majoyegbe, Simmons; Trialist A, Paxman; Carvalho, Lewis, Cundle, Ufuah; Shakpoke. Substitutes: Trialist C, Sinai, J. Leahy, Trialist D, Bloom, Vaughan, Andrews, Trialist E, Wilhelm, Trialist F.

Attendance: 258

Images courtesy of Peter Jozwiak