Manager Lee Martin was pleased as Welling United drew two all at home to a Millwall eleven in their latest pre-season friendly.

Although the result wasn’t paramount, Martin would have liked to have finished with a win. He said: “There’s an element of disappointment amongst the boys which tells me everything I need to know in terms of where they’re at now. There were some real positives to come out of that and it bodes well.”

George Evans and Ruben Shakpoke were very impressive as a partnership. “I thought both of them were a real handful in the first half.” said Martin. “They tired in the second and we kind of stopped doing what gave us joy a little bit. It’s a real exciting team, squad, there’s options everywhere. Maybe the changes killed the game a little bit but we had people who we wanted to give time to show us what they can do.”

Jack Paxman played a more attacking role than he has been. Martin was delighted. He continued: “The reason why I brought Pax in is that he’s all action, a leader by the way he plays. He does the dirty things and he does the good things well. He is arguably on his day the best midfielder in the league and he’s a coup for us as far as I’m concerned.”

“As a person, I know the guy inside out. Making him captain was never an issue and I think you’ve started to see the cog turning in terms of his professionalism.”

Then speaking about how the squad is shaping up, he confirmed: “We’ve had a look at a few trialists today, and there are options for us, but we know now, exactly what we want to do and we’ll conclude them over the forthcoming days and then we’ll be in a position to be at full strength next week. It’s all coming together right at the right time.

“The manner of defeat against Leyton Orient really bugged me. The win on Tuesday night really impressed me and the manner of performance tonight, and the draw, has given me an element of confidence that we will be more than competitive this season.”

Due to issues with Welling’s playing surface, and that there will be all manner of different pitches during the season, Martin admitted that there has been a re-think on the approach. “Credit to the groundsmen who have worked tirelessly to get this to where they need to.” he said. “We’re probably a week away from being at where it’s at its best.”

“We’ve changed the ideas of how we want to build and play because the pitch will cut up and deteriorate. We’ve got to be mindful of that. We’ve got to be adaptable and we’ve got to be front footed on what we try and do.”

“This is why we’re looking at systems and formations and profile of players who’ll come in and fit that. We’ve got the footage of tonight that we can really analyse.”

Image courtesy of Keith Gillard