Two goals in stoppage time further eased Welling United’s relegation worries when they defeated Weston-super-Mare at the J. Hearnden Skip Hire Community Stadium. After the game, Rod Stringer gave his thoughts.

“Really tough game.” he said. “I felt that they were a good side. To be fair I thought that the pitch was probably not conducive to the way that Weston want to play, but I thought they handled it well. Great rotation. Good movement in there.”

“I thought that the one that just fizzed past the upright was our chance to go two-nil but they were always in the game. They’re one of the better sides I think we’ve played, to be honest, and even when I was managing at this level before I always recognised them as being a really good team. We had to dig deep. The two substitutions came on and did what’s what.”

He continued. “It was a tough game but to finish the way that we did was the right way. We were very clinical. To give Weston credit again, they had a game in midweek but we had to dig deep today.”

“It wasn’t a great performance from ourselves, I’m not going to sugar-coat it. I know when I’m really happy. The boys have probably had a little bit off me today and one or two don’t quite like it but I’m here to do a job, they’re here to do a job and we’re all in it together.”

“Great three points. It was a game that we were hoping that we were going to win and it was a good finish to the game.”

Further emphasising how disappointed he was with the overall performance, despite the result, Stringer said “I just thought today that we didn’t look the fluent Welling that we’ve been. I thought last week we were outstanding, I just think today we were a little bit off it.”

“The substitutions worked. We tried to force it. I thought one or two were off key today but with those three points, and the three points from last week, it gives us another six to the cause.”

“However, I’ll push these boys right to the end because as far as I’m concerned, we haven’t achieved anything yet.”

While Welling have moved out of the bottom four, others have been dragged into the relegation dogfight.

“There’s a lot of teams involved now, Torquay included, who have come into this situation which is not nice.” said Stringer.

“You’re playing under so much pressure. It is a tough, tough position to be in when you’re fighting for your lives. We all like to be at the other end and trying to get promotion or win leagues which I’ve done at previous clubs but this here, I’ve come in to do a job and every point, goal difference, everything, means so much to us so I’m really pleased with the way that we finished the game although it wasn’t our best performance.”

Substitutions changed the game and Stringer admitted it was a risk. He said “It’s such an awkward time to try and make substitutions at one-one because anything can go wrong and if the subs don’t work, people say you shouldn’t have changed it but today we can take a bit of a pat on the back but it’s all down to the players.”

Pictures supplied by Dave Budden.