Hopefully we will surprise a few clubs this year, says Welling United boss Jamie Day

Monday 22nd July 2013

WELLING UNITED boss Jamie Day says he is expecting a tough campaign back in the top flight of non-league football.

The Wings sealed the Conference South title last season – which made up for losing to their Kent rivals Dartford in the play-off final the year before – and will be returning to the Conference for the first time in thirteen years.

Welling United last played top flight Conference football between 1986-2000 and Day, 33, is using pre-season to get things right ahead of their opener at Wrexham on 10 August.

“We know it’s going to be a difficult year in the fact that we’re playing teams like Wrexham, Luton, Lincoln and Grimsby, that are big football clubs,” said the midfield playmaker.

“It’s not going to be easy but I believe in the players that we’ve got in the dressing room and the ability in the dressing room, which is why we need to stay confident.

“We’ve got a good group and a good bunch of lads that will give 100% and hopefully we will surprise a few clubs this year.

“We’ve got a tough start at Wrexham so we have to get it right.”

When asked whether he is happy with his squad, Day replied: “We’ve got a squad of 22 players and I don’t think that’s going to change now. We’ve spent our budget and in that 22 there’s four or five youngsters. We’ve got seventeen first team lads that we will go into the season with that are good players.”

Former Thamesmead Town keeper Sam Mott faces a race against time to be fit for the season’s opener at The Racecourse Ground.

“He’s out for hopefully three weeks but he could be a little bit longer than that,” revealed Day, who has changed the club's training programme to three mornings a week.

“We’re looking at four so it’s something that we’re looking to review in a couple of weeks’ time to see if we need to get another keeper in for the start of the season.”

Day added: “We don’t know whether Motty is going to be back in time and fit enough. He’s twisted his ankle so we need to assess that. I don’t want to throw him in if he’s not fully fit in the games that we’ve got in the first month so we’ll keep tabs on him and he’ll get the right treatment needed and we’ll assess it in two weeks time and see where we’re at and if we need to bring another keeper in.”

Day admitted he faces competition in the middle of the park.

He said: “We’ve got six central midfielders that I believe are good enough to play in the team so it gives them an opportunity to get some minutes under their belts in pre-season and for me it probably sharpens me up that I have to work a little bit harder now to try and get back into the team and be fitter and better than everyone else.

"It puts a bit of an onus on me to do that and to get back into the team, which then hopefully drives them on to stay in the team.”

Day revealed that he will link up with local Ryman League clubs to blood youngsters into a first-team environment.

“I think we need to,” he said. “We’ve not got above our stations and we need to have as many links as we possibly can with teams below that are local. We’ve started to get a link with VCD as well and other clubs like that because we need to get our younger lads out there playing games.

“If we can have a good relationship with these clubs it works in our favour and in their favour. That will continue as long as I’m at the club and we’ll do what we can to help the teams below us like Charlton and Millwall do for us.

“We need to do exactly the same to clubs that are one or two league’s below and hopefully they can work their way up and we’re all in the same league.”

Day was impressed with the facilities on his first visit to Thamesmead Town’s new-look Bayliss Avenue last week.

He said: “It’s lovely. We came here last year and the pitch was nice. They’ve got an excellent 4g pitch to train on and it’s a club going in the right direction.

“Keith McMahon’s done a fantastic job at the club and all his backroom staff and we wish them well for the season and hopefully they can make the jump up to the Ryman Premier and do well in it. They’ve got all the things in place to do that so hopefully they can.”

Welling United continue their pre-season campaign with a trip to Ryman Premier League Maidstone United on Tuesday, before travelling again to Conference South Bromley on Saturday.

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