The run-in to the end of the season will be a fairly local affair for the Fleet with Saturday’s short hop to Park View Road one of three remaining away games that also includes visits to Concord, Tonbridge and Billericay.
The mileage is down but Fleet are seeking to raise the points total, starting with the challenge of Welling United, the Wings under new manager Warren Feeney and with a number of new faces drafted in.
Shaq Coulthirst should be fit again after he returned as a second-half substitute in midweek at Folkestone, having sat out last week’s league clash v Hungerford Town. Alex Finney also played half an hour in that one, which gives Fleet some added defensive cover in the absence of the suspended Joe Martin.
“We fight for every inch but with our quality it’s not about the effort,” said Dennis Kutrieb. “We need to do a little bit more and be a little bit better and that’s where we’ve worked this week and then we will be ready for Welling. They have their own problems and need to fight for points like we do, so it’s definitely another tough game for us but we will be up for it.”
Having returned to the bottom of the table with Billericay picking up form, the Wings are most certainly in a fight for points. A good run under Peter Taylor in his first weeks as boss appeared to have taken Welling to relative safety but as that form tailed off, Taylor made way for new boss Feeney who has seven games left to save his club from the drop.
It’s tight at the bottom, with any of Tonbridge, Bath, Chelmsford and Billericay under various stages of threat from relegation as well but with 21 points to play for, Welling – like all clubs with places to clinch – won’t be daunted by the task.
Feeney got his first win with a six-pointer against Chelmsford but Welling then lost an equally vital match at Tonbridge last week. The Wings have just that one win in seven and they have a difficult run to the end of the season, with their next six games against teams battling for play-off places or automatic promotion.
New faces have come in under the new boss, including goalkeeper Coniah Boyce-Clark plus on loan from Bromley, centre-back Ben Margetson and left midfielder Marcus Sablier. Experienced defender Jamie Sendles-White comes in from time in the National League with Maidenhead, Taylor Curran from Maidstone, while striker Alfie Matthews is a former Arsenal and Crystal Palace youth.
Following those arrivals, there were more last week with former Manchester United defender Zeki Fryers moving from Stockport County, plus striker Harvey Bradbury in from Oxford City and full back Kellen Fisher, another loanee from Bromley.
So with that influx of new blood, there probably won’t be too many repeat faces from Welling’s 6-0 defeat at the Kuflink Stadium earlier this season. In fact, it may not amount to more than three players with Ade Shokunbi, Maxwell Statham and Dipo Akinyemi likely to be the only survivors from that November clash.
Park View Road is not exactly unfamiliar for Fleet fans – this will be our 14th visit against Welling there. Fleet lost a memorable final game of last season by 4-3 in February 2021 but were unbeaten in the previous six visits which included a memorable late win with 10 men in 2016.
Matchday ticket prices at Welling are £13/£9/£5 with U12s free. More details are here about the pricing structure.
