On Saturday afternoon, Welling United are back at home, entertaining Brentwood Town in an Isthmian League Premier Division encounter.

Last weekend, the Wings visited Lewes hoping to add to their back-to-back wins, however, their run was ended when they conceded the only goal in the thirteenth minute of stoppage time.

They can expect another tough challenge against their visitors after Christmas. Although Brentwood have fallen behind relentless Folkestone Invicta, they are still second in the league table with Chatham Town hot on their heels. They have gone three games unbeaten with home wins over Potters Bar Town and Hashtag United following a two-all draw at home to Cheshunt.

At present, the Blues are fourth in the form guide with eleven points from their last six league games. They were indebted to a goal by Alejandro Machado on the hour mark to beat Potters Bar last time out and consecutive clean sheets suggest that Welling will have to work hard to break them down.

It will be the second meeting between the two clubs this season following Welling’s visit to Brentwood in the FA Trophy back in October. In that match, the team from Essex went ahead in the fifteenth minute through a goal by Daniel Ogunleye before Benas Valvada added a brace either side of half time.  

Having been sent off at Lewes, Jack Paxman will start his three match ban on Saturday so won’t be available. However, Welling manager Ryan Maxwell will hope to have Troy Howard back after missing the Lewes game with flu. Maxwell also brought on Greg Cundle in the latter stages at Lewes after a long term injury and he offers an alternative option.

Although Welling’s overall performance at Lewes was encouraging, they are nine points adrift of safety and Maxwell knows that they need to turn good displays into points, and there would be no better time to start that than in their last match of 2025.