Welling United face, a massive game in their fight for survival this weekend as they travel to Potters Bar Town in a game that has taken on so much significance at the foot of the Isthmian Premier.

With the two sides separated by just two points in twenty-second and twenty-third, this will be their first actual meeting on the pitch following the late cancellation of the game at Park View Road earlier in the season.

For Maxwell, the Wings upturn since his arrival has been superb, not that we should really have been in any doubt as he explained to KSN this week. “When you’re trying to stay up yourselves, you want to be competing against team who are struggling to survive – in that way it means that you don’t become fixated on one or two!

“We have managed to beat a few teams and pull them into the fight; we beat Cray Valley this week having previously beaten Canvey (Island) and Wingate & Finchley. We are all in a fight and it is a fight that is going to the end of the season – who knows? We are willing and prepared for that, but certainly we are all in the fight and it’s going to be who can fight the best!”

“We are in a better position now than when we arrived back in November, the team were ten points adrift having played a game more which could have moved to thirteen points! We have only improved – ultimately with the fixtures that we have it’s been in our hands to do the job that we have been tasked with.”

Reflecting Maxwell continued, “When I took over at Sittingbourne, they were in a relegation battle and what we did there speaks for itself. But I/we have also done it at both Braintree and Walthamstow – similar situations and we have relied on those experiences and hopefully they will lead us to the goal.”

“I enjoy winning – I am not a man who shirks away from anything or ever will. These battles are for everybody; not all managers can do relegation battles, some can only manage the budgets and 4g pitches, but I will take on whatever the task may be. I am big believer in just getting on with the job at hand and getting it done!”                                                                                          

“We have taken each game as it came,” Maxwell went on. “We were unlucky to concede so late on away to Burgess Hill last weekend – to win or draw against them for us would have been fantastic, but to beat the side immediately above us on Tuesday night in the derby was a real big result in a real, real six pointer and a great result! We have been playing well, and we have to continued doing that.”

As the Wing’s head for Hertfordshire this weekend, there is still the spectre of the original meeting at Park View Road hanging over the game as the repercussions are still to be resolved.

 For Maxwell, it’s the three points on Saturday that matters. “It’s something that happened and you move on – there is certainly bigger things going on in the world in the scheme of things – it’s a game of football, three points at stake and that is what I have told my players! Three points and that’s how we will approach it and nothing is going to sidetrack our focus on bringing the points home.”

“All we want on the pitch is to be in control of your own destiny and that’s what we currently are – we weren’t when we arrived, and now we are! We just have to keep working towards that trajectory – the belief and the players are there so I am very confident. It’s a one game at a time attitude to get us out of this!” 

Image courtesy of Seth Maile