Wings maintain perfect start

12:44pm Wednesday 13th August 2008

Welling United 1-0 Braintree Town

A CRACKING contest took place on Tuesday evening at Park View Road saw the Wings scrape through and record their second league wins in the space of three days.

A stunning second half free-kick from the in-form Ryan Martin saw the home side through, but manager Andy Ford was keeping his feet on the ground at the final whistle.

Ford conceded he had not expected his side to record two wins out of two with the young squad he has assembled.

He said: "I will take it. It's all about confidence and if you can get off to a good start, you never know where it can take you.

"It was a young team out there at the end. They were very naive and I've just said to them if Braintree had scored at the end when they should have then how would they be feeling?

"We've got to better in those areas and kill games off, but it's all part of the learning curve."

Ford was quick to praise the performance of left-back Craig Braham-Barrett.

He said: "I thought Craig played very well. He worked his socks off and he's shattered now.

"It was a bit of a nervous start. We seem to be starting a bit nervously, which is probably something to do with the newness of the squad and due to them being young, so we've got to start like we ended because at the end you saw we can rip teams apart."

Ford also confirmed young right back Jack Parkinson has moved to Margate on loan and added Orlando Smith's continued delayed recovery remains a cause for concern.

He said: "We're not to happy about it at the moment.

"We are going to have to send him for another scan or X-ray because he's not progressing as we would like, but we will know a bit more in the next eight to 10 days."

The first half saw Braintree denied a penalty after 18 minutes when Graeme Andrews seemed to shove Wayne O'Sullivan to the ground as he attempted to skip past the Welling defender.

Welling themselves were denied by a dubious decision, not once but twice, as both strikers Joe Healy and Charlie Sheringham were thwarted by the offside flag late in the half.

The Wings were slow out of the blocks in the opening period, but dominated the second half and the visitors were forced to sit back and try to launch counter attacks for the best part of 45 minutes.

Welling looked solid if not spectacular in the middle of the park, with Rob Quinn and Sonny Cobbs both playing their part.

But it wasn't until 61 minutes when Dorian Smith replaced Cobbs when Welling started carving through their opponents.

The goal in the end was a strike worthy of winning the FA Cup Final and it also made it four goals in two matches for Ford's latest recruit.

Martin lifted his strike over the wall and curled it perfectly into top corner, giving goalkeeper Craig Holloway no chance.

Welling entertain Basingstoke on Saturday afternoon with Ford keen to continue the Wings' impressive start to the season.

Welling: Turner, Sinclair, Braham-Barrett, Quinn, McEntegart, Graeme Andrews, Green, Cobbs (Dorian Smith 61), Healy, Sheringham (Pinnock 77), Martin (Blackburn 90). Subs not used: Scott Andrews, Johnson. Att: 519

Explore News Shopper