Following back to back victories, Welling United travel to Wingate and Finchley with the aim of climbing out of the Isthmian League Premier Division bottom four.

Victory could also drag their hosts into the relegation dogfight as they are only six points ahead of fourth from bottom Welling, something that’s not lost on Wings’ manager Ryan Maxwell. “You want more opponents in this fight.” he said. “We can only affect what we do, but we’ve got an opportunity to affect them when we play them but ultimately, it’s just about us. We’ve created a mini league table and I’ve said to the boys you’ve got to stay top of that. If you stay top of that it will all work out.”

Last Saturday, Welling hosted Whitehawk and again had to show their character to win the game. A week earlier, they let a two goal lead slip at Potters Bar Town before Jamie Reynolds scored the winner. Then against Whitehawk they seemed to have the match under control through an early goal by Lekan Majoyegbe, then their opponents going down to ten men, before conceding from the visitors first shot on target midway through the second half.

Noah Stewart was then introduced for his Welling debut and within six minutes, he scored his first goal. Troy Howard sent over an acrobatic overhead cross and Stewart’s anticipation and hunger was greater than that of the defenders around him, and he got on the end of it to finish. The Wings saw out the remainder of the game comfortably and had opportunities to increase their lead in the latter stages.

Meanwhile, Wingate and Finchley’s three game league and cup run came to an end with a heavy defeat at another relegation threatened club, Carshalton Athletic. They went behind in the third minute and were two down by half time. A minute after the restart, the Robins added a third before Romeo Akinola pulled one back. That was as good as it got for them, though, and they conceded a fourth with four minutes remaining.

When Welling hosted Wingate and Finchley back in January, they recorded their first of only two league clean sheets so far this season, and won the match courtesy of a brilliant Majoyegbe volley.

Once again there will be a coach organised by the Welling United Supporters Association so, with others travelling by car and train, another large turnout of Wings’ followers is expected. Maxwell knows the influence that they have and will be imploring them to be a twelfth man for the team.

Images courtesy of Chris Zimmerman