WELLING assistant manager Barry Ashby accepts there could be fresh interest in striker Andy Pugh this month.

Pugh has been in fantastic form this season and already has 17 goals to his name.

That has already seen the frontman spend a few days on trial at League One side Leyton Orient in November and more recently be linked with a move to Hartlepool United.

Ashby said: “We all know how well Andy’s done this year with his goals and his overall play.

“I think it’s only right that there’s people looking at him.

“It’s just one of those things, if your team is doing well and you’ve got certain players in your team that are doing well, other teams will come sniffing or knocking on the door.

“Whether something happens we’ll have to wait and see.

“It’s a bit of an awkward period this month where players do move about and do come and go.

“Whatever happens, if Andy goes he’ll go with everyone’s blessing.

“If he stays then fantastic.”

Welling will find it tough to hold onto their key man after a recent drop in form, which has seen the Wings win only one of their last five games.

The latest setback saw them slip to a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of neighbours and play-off rivals Dartford on Monday, a result which Ashby felt was harsh on the Wings.

“At Dartford we did everything well performance wise apart from put the ball in the back of the net,” he said.

“We were pretty disappointed not to come away from Dartford with some sort of result, that’s football sometimes.

“Performance wise we were pretty pleased.

“If we take the same level of performance into the Truro game we’ll give ourselves more of a chance of winning.”

The defeat saw Welling lose more ground on runaway leaders Woking, who now have a 15-point cushion on the Wings, and Ashby is well aware of the task ahead.

He said: “I wouldn’t class them as out of sight, I think it will be difficult to catch them, they’re a good side.

“It’s going to be difficult, anyone who says otherwise would be lying.

“But there’s still 20 plus games to go and a lot of football to be played.”

Loick Pires missed the defeat at Princes Park with a knee injury and Ashby revealed he may still be doubtful for Saturday’s clash with Truro.

The assistant boss added: “Loick has been a big part of what we’ve done this season.

“It’s a bit disappointing that we’re missing him at the moment with an injury.

“We’ve got a few people coming back from suspension and Loui Fazakerley is feeling a lot better now after the injury on his back.”

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