One moment of quality proved pivotal to knock Welling United off the top of the Isthmian League Premier Division when they visited in-form Eastbourne Borough. After the match, Ryan Maxwell gave his thoughts.

“(It was a) Toss of a coin game.” he said. “They’ve not created that many chances and they’re at home. I’m very proud of the performance, that we stayed there, and it was going to be a game of two halves.”

“One shot on target in the first half has gone in from them, it’s a great strike to be fair to the player, but that was all she wrote, and as I say, it was going to be a game of two halves with the wind, which died down a little bit, unfortunately for us, but I was really pleased with our response in the second half.”

“We made some subs that made a difference. We changed our tactics, we changed our shape and we had a couple of chances, then an unbelievable chance where their keeper’s made a fantastic save down to his right hand side and that is the reason why the score is one-nil and not one each.”

“They are tiny margins and I’m very proud with us because we’ve chucked the kitchen sink at it. I don’t think many teams have come here and played like that in the second hard like we did, and create the chances and opportunities that we did, and the pressure we had, so we’ve got to keep things relative.”

“It’s a one-nil defeat but we’ve limited them to very little and had an unbelievable chance to level it where their keeper’s made a great save and that is the difference in the game. That’s how small the margin is today.”

Continuing with the wind, he continued: “The conditions dictate on how you approach the game. You don’t know what side you’ll be kicking into, with or against the wind. We tried to prepare for both and said this is how it will be and if we’d had gone in at nil-nil, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll win the game.”

“That moment of quality they had when it stuck in the top corner separates the two teams on top of their goalkeeper’s fantastic save. I’m nothing but proud of my players. They’ve come here, longest journey, I think, they’ll do this season, and we’ve given it everything we’ve got.”

New signing Chris Harris came on around the hour mark. Maxwell confirmed: “Chris will bring so much in time. He doesn’t know his team mates yet. He didn’t train on Thursday so he couldn’t start today and it would have been wrong to do so but what I did was to integrate him with the squad today and Chris is a player that can do well here for sure.”

“He’s a proper target man, gets on the end of crosses, wins his headers, brings people into play, and works extremely hard.”

There was another great turnout of Welling supporters and Maxwell was very appreciative for their backing.

“I don’t know how many were here.” he said. “I know they got a coach, maybe fifty or something but they were great, they were vocal, they were fantastic. We made sure we thanked them all, shook all their hands for the journey, it’s the furthest one this season they’ll do.”

“Huge thank you. Huge appreciations. Stick behind them. You can see they’re giving it they’re all. Players are playing for the badge, playing for the club, playing for the fans and playing for each other.” 

While Harris was making his Welling debut, Eastbourne were able to introduce former EFL and England C striker Paul McCallum. Maxwell said: “We’ve got boys that are still cutting their teeth even at this level or I’ve plucked them from different clubs who maybe didn’t do great last year but we work on playing the right player for the right position at this club to play the way that we want them to play.”

“They (Eastbourne) have got, it seems, unlimited funds and good luck to them. It’s not a fair fight in terms of the bank and what either me or (Eastbourne manager) Steve (King) have to play with but I’ve got boys who are worth a lot more to me and they give me more than I can ever tell you.”

“I’m proud to work with them and I’ve got some great players in there and they are doing fantastic and that’s the type of player that I recruit.”

Although Troy Howard left Welling during the week, Maxwell is not in any hurry to replace him. He said: “He (Howard) was just getting very frustrated with himself and it just got to the point where we couldn’t continually manage the frustration that he was going through.”

“I’ve got lots of options of people wanting to sign here which is great this season but after a performance like that, I’m happy with what we’ve got, happy with how we played, happy with how we’re going.”

“We’re sitting in a great place. I’ve got to be loyal to the boys around me who’ve done great us here and we’re a team united and that’s our biggest strength. We’ll take stock in maybe a week or two.”

He continued: “Being settled gives you time to work on things that you know are going to be there for the long term. If you keep moving pieces around you’re going to put a circle peg into a square hole and the players have to get to know each other and it’s all a bit off the cuff.”

“I don’t want off the cuff, I want well drilled teams, know each other’s game, know each other’s strengths, and that community, and that love for each other is something that we’re known for. Those boys really do have a lot of time for each other in there. They’ll be gutted in there, but they will be ready to go again.”

Picture supplied by Chris Zimmerman.