After his team lost in their FA Trophy home match against Chertsey Town on penalties, Welling United manager Ryan Maxwell offered his thoughts. 

“We made a lot of changes today.” he said .“We’ve got Troy Howard who certainly needed minutes, Ryan Kingsford the same, Ade (Azeez) certainly needed to come in today, and Chris (Arthur) was injured so we put Jamie (Reynolds) in at left back, and Macca (Mackenzie Foley)’s injured, the goalkeeper.”

“A lot of changes today, a lot, but they need the minutes. Our priority is the league so where are we going to get them those minutes. We had to get them back on the comeback trail and get them match sharp. We’ve got a lot of games coming up, a Saturday/Tuesday right in front of us.”

Maxwell continued: “The game itself, I felt if it was bitty, scrappy, a lot scrappier than how we’ve played recently. A lot of changes had a lot of impact on that but I still expected the boys to have more control but we didn’t have our usual flow, control or style.”

“We made some changes in the second half and we got a bit more of it back then. We got behind them a bit more then they score a wonderful goal, a tremendous strike and then we’re chasing it again and we do get a very, very late equaliser and then it goes to pens which is an absolute lottery.”

“We had chances to win the game and we should have won the game on chances but we didn’t play great in the first half, a lot of disjointedness but I’ll take that fully on board if we’re a squad team, we’ve got to use the squad or players are not going to stay match sharp when it matters against Whyteleafe and Malden on Tuesday.”

“If we don’t get players ready for games they’ll come on and not make an impression, they’ll start and not make an impression when it really matters. You’ve got to stay match ready, you’ve got to stay fighting fit. Training’s different to matches, you’ve got to give them the minutes they need and this was the opportunity to do so.”

On the subject of injuries, Maxwell said: “Macca’s injury, hopefully, won’t be too long. It’s a rotator cuff, I’ve done it myself, it’s annoying. It’s the type of injury that you just need to let it settle but if you push him to make him play you’d probably make it a lot worse.”

“Macca’s going to be given the necessary time to recover. How long? Don’t know. It might only be a couple of weeks, maybe three, maximum four.” 

As for Arthur, Maxwell added: “Chris, we were considering a fitness test but in the end we decided not to bother because Saturday/Tuesday is round the corner and we need him fit. If he’d played sixty (minutes), and it pulls, he could be out for a month, it wasn’t worth the risk.”

“He’s been playing so well, he’s had a great start to the season, and we missed him today. Jamie did well but we missed his personality and character. We’ve got to look after Chris and pushing him to play today wasn’t in my plans. We spoke to him when he got in this morning and he said that he was willing to give it a go but I was not willing to risk it.”

To replace Foley, Maxwell has signed Dagenham and Redbridge goalkeeper Phil Ogayi on dual registration. “We’ve managed to get a very good, capable goalkeeper in and I was pleased with him today.”

Welling had a first half chance from one of Ogayi’s accurate long passes. Maxwell confirmed: “We got in one a one v one from his kick, Ade’s flick and Fum (Fumnaya Shomotun) was in. He doesn’t know everyone’s attributes yet, he’s only going off what I’m telling him.”

“I was quite pleased with his distribution. I felt that the players took pretty well to him in the dressing room, that’s important. He’s a likeable lad. He’s come in and shown a nice character. He’s outgoing but polite and he’s fitted in well.”

Ten penalties were taken in the shoot-out and nine were scored. The unfortunate player to miss was Welling’s Zak O’Keefe. Maxwell felt for him but knows that having wanted to take one, he’ll bounce back.

“It’s all about reacting from failure, that’s what life is.” said Maxwell.

“Zak’s here for a reason, he’s here to develop. He won’t be taking a penalty for Leyton Orient anytime soon because he’s not playing for them and he’s got a bit to do so he’s had an experience today that he’s gained from his loan. He’ll be annoyed that he’s missed it but, at the same time, it’s all about building character. If he scores the pen he’s happy, but what’s he learned from it?”

On Tuesday night, Welling visit Cray Valley PM in a Kent Senior Cup match. Maxwell gave an idea on what type of side that he’ll put out by saying “It’s only fair to tell the fans that the game will have players that need minutes playing, a few young players that have been training with us that I’d like to have a look at but there’ll be a handful of first team as well so to be open and transparent with the fans, it will be a mixed squad that we’re taking to Cray on Tuesday.”

“We’re trying to promote the fact that there’s a pathway here from youth to the first team. You can’t chuck them in a league game if they haven’t cut their teeth somewhere. There’s not a lot of opportunity to do that. Training is one thing but playing in a very important game where there’s points at stake is different.”