Ford praises his shining lights

Wednesday 22nd July 2009

WELLING UNITED boss Andy Ford is looking forward to tomorrow night’s friendly at Dartford - that is if EDF Energy pull their fingers out, writes Stephen McCartney.

The original game was postponed on Tuesday night due to the power failure in the Dartford and Welling area that has affected around 100,000 homes - including Princes Park.

But Ford is looking forward to locking horns against Tony Burman’s side that will be challenging for the Ryman Premier League title this season.

“I think it will be a good friendly for us,” Ford told www.kentishfootball.co.uk. “Non-League football rather than League opposition, it is different.

“I’m sure Dartford will be trying to get a result out of the game, like we both will be.

“It will be a good test. I think the Gillingham one, and this one, and then Tonbridge (2nd August) will be our biggest test for pre-season, so we can take a little bit out of the results if that’s the way we want to look at it.”

Ford’s charges impressed against League One side Gillingham last Saturday, as goals from Sanchez Ming and trialist Jake Hobbs sealed a morale-boosting 2-0 win against full-time professionals.

“I’m quite pleased with the way things have gone at the moment, but pre-season results don’t mean too much to be honest,” he said.

“It’s all about getting the results on the first day of the season and hopefully after a good ten or a dozen games that’s where you can judge yourself.”

Reflecting on the win over Mark Stimson’s Gills, Ford said: “We played quite well on the day. I think they could have scored a couple of times but Charlie (Mitten) played very well (in goal) on a couple of occasions and kept us in the game.

“But later on in the game we took advantage of a couple of slips that they made and took advantage of it.

“I’m very pleased with it. It would have been much better had we beaten them in the FA Cup, but it was only a pre-season friendly.”

He added: “Lots of changes were happening from both camps so those do make a difference sometimes and that may have had something to do with the result.”

Ford is satisfied with the new players that he has either signed, or invited for a trial with the Park View Road club, ahead of their Blue Square South campaign, which gets underway with a visit from full-time Woking on Saturday, 8th August.

“James Lawson, Tony Finn, Dean Cracknell and Lee Clarke, they’re all new players that have come in and they have impressed me, so I’m pleased with them,” said Ford.

Cracknell (ex-St Albans City) Jason Mason (ex-Bishop’s Stortford) and Michael Dean (ex-Enfield Town) are still on trial, but Ford hopes the trio will put pen to paper soon.

“There’s a few there that we’re looking at and hopefully will put pen to paper fairly quickly,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dartford have said that they will confirm on Thursday lunchtime whether this match will go ahead or not - www.kentishfootball.co.uk will inform supporters as soon as we’re told by the home club.

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

Visit Dartford’s websites: www.dartfordfc.co.uk & www.dartfordfootballclub.co.uk

Dartford v Welling United

Pre-Season Friendly

Thursday 23rd July 2009

Kick Off 7:45pm

At Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT