McEntegart: Ford and Dack swung it

1:59pm Thursday 24th July 2008

MATTHEW McEntegart says the chance to work under Welling manager Andy Ford and his assistant Jimmy Dack was the deciding factor in his decision to sign a one-year deal with the Wings.

The 24-year-old central defender, who began his career at Southend after arriving in England at the age of 16 from Australia, spent the second half of last season at Chippenham Town.

The Wiltshire outfit were keen to keep hold of a player who was a key member of the squad which helped them reach the play-offs last season.

However, McEntegart was keen on a move to London and also rejected the advances of two other Blue Square South outfits to link up with Ford and Dack at Welling.

He explained: "I trained with Welling in pre-season and liked what I saw. They've got a young team and a good manager and coach in Andy Ford and Jimmy Dack.

"They don't just shout from the sidelines but talk to you on a one-to-one basis.

"Although at 24 I would hardly describe myself as a young player, when you are 18 or 20 coming through you can sometimes be a bit intimidated by managers and coaches.

"I don't imagine for one second Andy or Jimmy are like that because they both talk to you as a normal person."

McEntegart added: "I live in Haywards Heath at the moment, so it is only about 45 minutes to an hour from me at the moment.

"I'm moving to Wandsworth next month and although Newport and Weston-super-Mare were both after me, I didn't really want to go back to living in Bristol."

McEntegart is setting no targets for his new club, but is confident a season of progress awaits at Park View Road after last year's dabble with the relegation zone.

He said: "We want to finish as high as possible. It is going to be a tough start because we have to face a few top teams in the early stages, but this will give us a good idea of where we stand in this division and we can take things from there.

"The very minimum of my ambitions is for the club to enjoy a good, solid season and build on it."

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