Hopefully we can get some decent results against our promotion rivals, says Wings boss Jamie Day

Friday 04th February 2011

WELLING UNITED player-manager Jamie Day says he wants his side to go on another impressive run of form to secure a play-off place in Blue Square Bet South, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Wings have slipped down to sixth place (one place below the play-off zone), just two points underneath the line and lock horns with two sides in the top three at Park View Road this week.

Day believes victories over league leaders Braintree Town tomorrow and third-placed Bromley next Tuesday will put his side in a good position in the play-off pack.

“Braintree is going to be a difficult game,” Day said on the eve of the game against the Essex side, who lost 1-0 at Dartford last Tuesday.

“Obviously they’re top of the league for a reason, they’ve consistently grinded out results.

“It’s going to be difficult. We know what we expect from them, they’re going to be physical, strong and quite direct. We’ve got to match that first and foremost and hopefully we can get the ball down and play and try and get a result.”

Then it’s the tasty Kent derby against Bromley, a side that lost 2-0 at home to Dover Athletic in midweek, although Hayden Bird’s side have picked up more wins on their travels.

“Bromley have played three more games than us, but are four points ahead of us so we have to try and get a result and catch them up and win the games in hand and hopefully we go above them,” added Day.

“There’s two big games coming up and we’re looking forward to them. Hopefully we can get some decent results and go on a little run of five or six games again and keep us firmly in the top six places.”

With two big games coming up, Day urges the Welling faithful to stretch their wallets and get behind his team.

He said: “It’s always nice when you have a decent crowd so hopefully playing against first and third we should be looking to getting 700-800 fans through the gate. Obviously that help the club as well and it helps the players on the pitch.”

But midfield playmaker Day continues to work with a transfer embargo, and still has only 16 players to pick from, himself included.

“Nothing’s changed, we’ve still got the embargo and I haven’t been told when or if it’s going to be lifted,” he said.

“The lads we brought in are the ones we wanted anyway. It would have been nice to add some loanees to it if we could have done but we can’t. We’re not going to worry about it. We’ve got a decent squad and hopefully we can keep everyone fit and grind out results with the sixteen players that we’ve got.”

Reflecting on the past seven days, Welling came away from Dorchester Town with a 3-3 draw, and were knocked out of the Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday night when their academy side lost 3-0 away to Whitstable Town.

“Dorchester, looking back on it now, it wasn’t a bad result getting a point. We’d like to have got three points from it but we’ve kept a little run going,” said Day.

“I think it’s two games or whatever it is now so in the end pleased to get a result but a little bit disappointed that we couldn’t get three and gained on a couple who got beat over the weekend.”

Speaking about missing out on a lucrative trip to Dartford in the quarter-finals of the Kent Senior Cup, having lost to in-form Whitstable, Day added: “We wasn’t worried about the result. We wanted to give some of the first team players a rest. It was a good opportunity for the academy boys and I thought they done, Ash (Barry Ashby) thought they done very well.

“They will again play in the London (Senior) Cup (away to Thamesmead Town later in the month) and it will give them a bit of experience. It’s an opportunity for them to show me what they can do and give them an opportunity to be involved in the first team squad and be involved further down the line.”

Day, meanwhile, revealed that Loick Pires, Jack Parkinson and Loui Fazakerley will all face fitness tests before tomorrow’s game.

Visit Welling United’s website: www.wellingunited.com

Welling United v Braintree Town

Blue Square Bet South

Saturday 5th February 2011

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY