Following Welling United’s dominant performance against Wingate and Finchley, manager Ryan Maxwell shared his views.

“We were much better than one-all at half time.” he said “We were really dominant in the first half and a little bit of over confident defending is the bottom line. That’s disappointing. We should have come in a lot more comfortable than one each. We should have been two or three up without the sloppy defending there. 

“We were one all on Tuesday night having been the better side, and went on and won the game late so I knew that the boys would react. All they had to do was repeat what they’d done without the sloppy mistake and it would take care of itself. Four-one and in fairness to their manager, good feller that he is, he said that we were totally dominant in every department and I respect the comment.”

Park View Road has become a hard place for opposing teams to win. Maxwell said “That’s ten unbeaten here now, nine wins and a draw. It’s a massive, massive thing. I wanted to make sure that we have a strong home record following on from last season.

“I think the club’s come a long way in a short period of time on the terraces. We’re trying our best, we’re giving them all we can. The boys leave it all out there. I promised them a team to be proud of. They’ll always give their best for this football club as long as I’m here. I think the fans are appreciating that but we appreciate them more.”

Kaan Bennett created the third goal by pressing Wingate’s goalkeeper into making a mistake before scoring the fourth. Maxwell said “It’s work rate. Anybody can play under no pressure, but you put people under pressure and see if they can play or not. Part of the tactics was to put them under pressure. 

“I’m going to give Kaan lots of credit here because Kaan has ran an exceptionally far distance in every game he has started. He’s only twenty-one but it’s the energy, desire, the willingness, and I’m delighted for Kaan because he’s playing well. He’s not scoring goals but he’s making them. He scored today, and he has got goals in him. Hopefully, that will trigger his goals. He’s been working so hard. He’s been creating, he’s assisted in numerous goals already.”

Whilst Bennett was a contender for man of the match, there were several other contenders. “What I like is that you’re struggling to pick them because the performance level is high as a team.” beamed Maxwell. “I don’t want people standing out on their own, I want the team to stand out. I don’t want any weak links. I want everyone at a realistically high level spread across the pitch.”

After a slow start, Ryan Kingsford has now scored two in two and looks more confident. Maxwell said “He was trying too hard. We had a good chat about it. I had him for fifty odd games at Sittingbourne. I’ve seen him up close. He’s quality. He will come on nicely. It doesn’t have to happen right now. It happens in stages. You saw another stage today. It’s just moments of quality. He’s got himself on the scoresheet. He’ll be quality for us.”

Kingsford spent the first half on the bench but replaced Nahum Melvin-Lambert for the second period. Maxwell explained “Nahum wasn’t really himself. He was struggling with the flu. It was touch and go. Ultimately, I thought the longer that he stayed out there, the longer it would take him to recover. It was draining his energy. We’ve got a game on Tuesday. We’ve got Ryan who’s quality on the bench and it worked out well.”

On the absentees he said “Ade (Azeez) was probably fifty/fifty for today but we’re hopeful that with the extra Saturday, Sunday, Monday, he’ll be available for Tuesday. I think Rambo (Louis Ramsey) should be good for Tuesday as well. He’s got the heart of two lions. He’s played ninety (minutes) on Tuesday after seventy on Saturday. We’ve got to be careful because he’s a quality player and I don’t want to lose him again.”

Picture supplied by Chris Zimmerman.