Victory for Welling United at St Albans City, and results elsewhere, sent the Wings back to the top of the Isthmian League Premier Division. After the match, Welling manager Ryan Maxwell gave his views.
“Super performance.” he said. “It had everything in it. We had chances before we scored. We’ve hit the post, another great chance just after it. We were waiting to get the first goal. We did. In the second half we had to react. Soft penalty, but it’s a penalty.
“The boys showed tremendous character away from home to go and get the win and I’m absolutely delighted with everything in that performance today. They stuck to the game plan meticulously, dealt with everything that they had and we still maintained a threat at all times. Some unbelievable performances but certainly the most important thing and the most inspiring thing was the team. Everyone was superb today. Everybody.
On Kaan Bennett’s first goal, he said “Sublime is the word you’d use. He just picks it up and then the composed finish is the quality bit, to bury that in the far corner is class and I loved his second goal as well. His first one was a moment of individual broadcast. He’s got that. He’s got to score more goals. He’s got so much going for him, Kaan, such a great footballer. We’re trying to get eve more out of him but today his class was there for all to see.”
At three-one up, Welling could easily have sat back and seen the game out. Maxwell doesn’t do things that way. He said “We still made positive subs. We still brought fresh legs on and the boys that came on contributed to the result, which is so important in a tight game. I was very confident after we scored the third goal that that would be it but you still have to manage the game correctly. You still have to do the right things and stick to the plan, not come off script and that’s really part of discipline. The boys were absolutely superb today in that respect.”
Seventeen year old Josh Adesanya came on late in the game for his debut. Maxwell confirmed “I didn’t want to bring him on to early because Chris Harris was so effective plus he can defend and attack aerially in both boxes so we wanted to keep him on for as long as possible.
“I didn’t want to bring him on too early. I didn’t want him to get lost in it. He was a really important substitution to keep. He’s lightning quick. He caused problems but I want to see him with the boys. I’ve only had him in with us today so I didn’t want to gamble with him too early, so I left it as late as I possibly could but I can see that there’s a player there that’s going to cause problems, certainly.”
Victory took Welling to top of the league and Maxwell was delighted for the supporters. “It’s fantastic for the fans who were outstanding today.” he said. “Great voice, fantastic, absolutely brilliant. Thanks for coming all the way here. Enjoy the ride. Remember where the club was this time last year. They should be buoyant. They should be in the pub right now enjoying themselves and today is a nice little taste of what it’s like to be at the top at this stage of the season but it’s so early as I’ve said many times. It’s one at a time and it’s on to the next one.”
Having been absent for the last two league matches, Nathan Cooper was back available leaving Maxwell with a big decision. In the end he decided to leave him on the substitutes bench. “It was the right one.” he confirmed. “I don’t have any favouritism. I’m loyal to my players and Coops is a great player, of course he is, and had he have been playing he would have played. He didn’t play for two games, the boys kept two clean sheets, and if you look at the game today, the two centre halves were outstanding. It’s all about the squad.
“No-one is more important than anybody else. They all have roles to play, and games to play but ultimately we are a squad. Everyone that is signed here knows that’s how I run things. You get treated fairly. If you do well you keep your shirt unless it’s a really drastic tactic which has happened in the past. Zuriel (Otseh-Taiwo) played well in a game previously but we changed it, a complete tactical change. He’s come in recently, he’s been outstanding for the last four games and it’s great to have a squad that gives me such a headache.”
Cooper looked to be preparing to come on earlier but Maxwell appeared to have changed his mind. “We were considering him because we wanted to make sure that Lekan (Majoyegbe) was protected but the striker was mainly playing on Zak (O’Keefe) so it wasn’t as if Lekan was in loads of duels, having to make loads of decisions. It was about reading the game and he wasn’t being caught in straight races where he has to make big calls. We did deliberate it but we decided not to.”
O’Keefe continues to impress whether it’s at centre half or right back. Maxwell admires the way that he reads the game so well. “Great defenders, the ball attracts them and that’s what great defenders do.” he explained. “They read it first, then they make a decision. The first part that you have to have as a centre half and a defender is read it, and Zak’s got that. He’s got a real maturity about him. He’s developing so well. There’s more to come. There’s more developing to do. He’s got a bright future.”
As the whole team played so well it was difficult to select a man of the match but Maxwell thought that there was a standout performer. “I’d probably give man of the match to Tyrell (Miller-Rodney).” he said. “I thought he was absolutely fantastic. He covered every blade of the grass, tracked every run, had to get the nitty-gritty done and when he passed it he could. He broke up countless things. Shepherded people countless times. It is a big pitch. He is the midfield player that stayed on for the ninety (minutes) and I think that he gets it for me.”
Image courtesy of Chris Zimmerman