Defeat at Brentwood Town ended Welling United’s four game unbeaten Isthmian League Premier Division run. After the match, Ryan Maxwell gave his thoughts.

“I think today’s word is frustration.” he said. “There weren’t many chances in it. We had a number of set pieces, six or seven corners. We didn’t capitalise of the back of those and didn’t deserve to come in one-nil down. But we did, and we’ve had to react to that before. After that, we didn’t really do what we’re great at as much as what we have done.”

After a spell of picking almost the same team every match, two games in three days may have been to much for some of the players. Maxwell confirmed “We made a couple of changes to freshen it up a little bit, brought in Noah (Stewart) for his first start, started Vlad (Paternoster) as well at the back. I was pretty pleased with both of those players and then we lost Sam (Smith) quite early. He’s okay but he had to come off.”

That meant that Troy Howard was rested. Maxwell explained “Troy’s dynamite at the minute. We lost a tremendous player particularly away from home, on the counter-attack. Troy’s the man but we brought him off on Saturday and do I risk playing him in the side? Do we lose him until the end of the season? Probably not is the answer so it was a calculated risk and we felt that we had squad members good enough to get a result here so, of course any team would miss Troy but I think that it was the right decision.”

He continued “We’ve had to go away on a Monday against a team that are in the play-offs without Troy Howard. We made a couple of changes but I’m frustrated that we weren’t at our peak best. Even our performance in the first half, we had the most territory and the number of set pieces will show you that so it was frustrating. We shouldn’t have gone in one-nil down but we did, that’s football. We’ve come back from those situations before.”

Although both goals were preventable, Maxwell didn’t want to point fingers. “The goal from the wide player was a great goal he tucked it away nicely from the ball played in behind.” he said. “I’m a born winner and I’m frustrated that we didn’t win and I just wish that we’d played more of our usual style, the way that we can. We could have got a result here definitely.”

Maxwell is now looking forward to the next two games at home. On Saturday, the Wings host Dulwich Hamlet. Maxwell said “A one game at a time attitude is key, belief and confidence. The boys know that today was a game that we came to get a positive result. They’re a bit frustrated at themselves which is good. I want them frustrated then we can put it right on Saturday.”

Returning to Smith’s injury, he said “It was a case of bringing him off, not ideal, but Sam’s obviously been playing so well that we’ve got to look after him. We thought why risk him? We’ve got five games left. Let’s get him ready for those.”

Picture supplied by Keith Gillard.