There was woe for Welling United as their Isthmian League Premier Division Kent derby with Dartford was decided by an injury time goal.

After the game, Welling manager Ryan Maxwell offered his views on the event. “We should have been leading in the first half.” he said. “Wasteful, but the performance was excellent so I wasn’t overly critical of that. We knew we were going down the hill and needed to do better in the final third but the overall performance was excellent. We limited them to very little in the first half. I had nothing negative to say in the first half other than just a bit more composure when you get into very dangerous areas.

“Second half we were a little bit deeper, a little bit too deep down the hill but we still had the best chance of the game, one v one when Jack (Thomas) breaks free, no-one near him. He’s just got to pass it under the keeper but that’s probably decided the game because that would have changed it. It would have given us something to hold onto but I’ve got nothing negative to say today. The players have given me absolutely everything.

“The boys knew that that performance deserved a draw and we had the best chance” continued Maxwell, again mentioning what he saw as the turning point. “If Jack managed to score his one v one we’d have probably been able to defend that and come out with a one-nil win. Moments change games. He probably should have chosen a different finish but he did brilliantly to get the chance.

“It was his own work. He wins the ball, drives forward, and had he scored that it would have been the best goal of the season here but we didn’t score and ultimately we’ve conceded in the last few minutes. I’m disappointed for the boys but they’ve got to move forward and not feel sorry for themselves.”

There is little time for the players to dwell on it with a big game against Cray Valley (PM) three days later. “This wasn’t going to decide our season.” added Maxwell. “We need to beat the teams that we can directly affect but the performance level needs to be the same. We need to replicate that performance level and ultimately that’s what’s going to look after ourselves. Keeping the performances high, level high, and ultimately we have to put the ball in the net and we’ve got to take our chances. I think today, if we took our chance we win the game.”

Vladimir Paternoster came in on loan to cover for the banned Lekan Majoyegbe and he drew special praise from Maxwell. He said “We chucked in a lad today who hasn’t played a proper senior game for two years. He’s coming back from injury. A young lad, twenty years old. A brilliant performance today in a very competitive fixture. Vlad was one we had to sign because Lekan was suspended. There was no choice. I had a few options but I liked what I saw in the footage and I was delighted that went with my gut because he was superb today.”

Image courtesy of Seth Maile