Manager Steve King gave ten players Welling United league debuts as they started their campaign at home to newly promoted Dulwich Hamlet.

As is often the case in opening day fixtures, the game got off to a cagey start. “I think it was pretty poor in the first half.” admitted King. “It was one of those games, first game, where everybody wants to impress, both sides I’d say. Not much football played.

“I think they started off better than us on the front foot without really causing a problem. I don’t think they had a shot in that period but they came out of the traps better than us. Second half, I felt we started to get on the ball better. They had a man sent off, I don’t know what minute that was on, but I think we then started to control the game. I think Dan had one save to make from a free kick, other than that we controlled the game.”

He wasn’t unduly concerned that the visitors started the better explaining “It wasn’t so much that we were slow out of the blocks, they were quicker out of the blocks. It was just the build up of all pre-season and a new team coming together and everyone wanting to impress. It was like a hot potato.

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“Considering they play proper (football), we try and play proper (football), there was a lot of long balls and things like that. Once the first half got out of the way I think that it then started to open up a little bit.”

Although the dismissal of Ashley Carew gave Welling a one man advantage, they had already gone ahead by then. He said “I felt that we were on top at that point. I think we were comfortable at the back. I think Thierry (Audel) was outstanding and Yannis (Ambroisine) next to him, I thought those two centre-halves were brilliant. They won everything in front and in the air and dominated.”

After that, Welling started to play some better football and King added “I think that our inter-act for the second goal, Gavin (McCallum) into Jack Jebb was a fantastic finish.”

Jebb’s free kick resulted in Welling’s first goal and King enthused “His deliveries are football league deliveries. He got two or three wrong in the first half but you know at some point he’s going to get one right and when he does it just needs a touch and it’s in.”

It was hard to find a Welling player who didn’t impress, defensively in the first half and going forward in the second period. King said “I don’t think there is a weak link in the team for the level we’re at. People are going to have off days and people are going to be poor. We’ve got eighteen top players for this level.

“I think one to eleven they were very good. We’ve got subs that would get into nearly everybody’s team in this division and players that didn’t even get changed. You need a strong squad. It’s going to be a long old season and we go again Tuesday, then Saturday, then Tuesday then Saturday then Tuesday, so you need a squad.

“As a manager you need to look behind you and say we can change it. We’ve got players to change it. We’ve got strength in depth. I’m not getting carried away, it’s three points. That’s all it is but it’s a good start.”

Image courtesy of Dave Budden