Although already safe from relegation, Welling United drew an entertaining Isthmian League Premier Division match against play-off bound Billericay Town. After the match, Welling manager Ryan Maxwell offered his views.

“We are disappointed.” he said. “We should have won the game. We were the better side, we had the better chances. A very competitive game, good game. Billericay are a good team. That’s obvious.”

“They’d won their last ten, but we were excellent for a large part of this game today. When I got up this morning I knew that it would be a close game.”

When Maxwell became manager at Welling, his first game in charge was at Billericay and the Wings were hammered six one. The change since then has been remarkable.

Maxwell said: “It’s been a massive turnaround in personnel and results. I think today was an example of how much we’ve come on as a team. We were the better side today and the boys deserved more. I was very confident, coming into this, that we’d give them a real run for their money. That we did. The boys were excellent.”

“We’re a good team now. The league form doesn’t lie. It’s one defeat in nine, we are really playing well. We’re a force to be reckoned with and I’m so proud of these players because they’ve been absolutely outstanding for me, Billy and Aaron. They’ve done everything that’s been asked, they’ve shown incredible character in the most difficult situation anyone’s been in this season.”

“To change the team, to have changed the league table and to have changed the fans perspective is something special. Those boys will never forget what they’ve done here. It’s not just for the team, it’s for the club and for the supporters. It’s ending on a high. It was incredibly low when we walked in and now everyone’s positive. I think that’s special in itself.”

He continued: “This could be a fantastic football club. We all know that but we need everybody to jump on board. Don’t take part from the side line, take part from the front line and really enjoy it.”

“I’ll make everybody feel welcomed. I want them to feel valued. I’m a very approachable person. I’ll give them my time. I want this to be a club where everybody enjoys coming here except for the opposition.”

Although Billericay made changes from their last game, they needed to win to guarantee home advantage throughout the play-offs.

Maxwell said: “They still started with Charlie Ruff, Jon Benton. They just mixed it about a bit. Of course they wanted to win. They knew what was at stake. They can’t go into the play-offs with a negative attitude.”

“It’s got to be positive all the way and he (Danny Scopes) brought on the players that he didn’t start. Jack Evans, MacAuley Bonne, they all came on. It was about us today. We should have got three points but we got one. We were certainly a very good side today.”

Now, with the season done, there is a break before the start of the next pre-season. Maxwell said: “I don’t rest but I will have to rest as I know what I need to put in to this to be successful. I need to recharge, and I will recharge with my family and take the time I need that is necessary. We’ll be going on holiday to just try to really switch off for a few days but I find it really difficult to do so.”

As the school holidays don’t start until everyone is back in training, it’s difficult for managers to take time away. Maxwell admitted: “It’s a very short window but you have to adapt and manage that time, but we always manage to get at least a week away and we’ll do the same again.”

Picture supplied by Chris Zimmerman.