I jumped at the chance to bring Shaun Welford to Margate, says boss Iain O'Connell

Thursday 26th August 2010

MARGATE boss Iain O’Connell says he is looking forward to working with target-man Shaun Welford, 31, who has agreed to sign for the club after he parted company (by mutual consent) with Dover Athletic earlier in the week, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Hartsdown Park club have today confirmed that they have agreed terms with Dover Athletic to sign the target-man for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract.

Welford will put pen to paper at training tonight and the paperwork is expected to be completed tomorrow and he will go into the squad for Saturday’s trip to much-fancied Lowestoft Town.

Previously with Corinthian, Dover Athletic and Ramsgate, Welford’s second spell at Dover was a success, helping the Whites to secure promotion from the Ryman League Division One South through to the Blue Square Bet South, scoring 40 goals in three seasons.

He parted company with the Crabble outfit on Tuesday, telling Dover boss Martin Hayes that at the age of 31 he needs first team football after not starting any of the club’s three opening three fixtures in Blue Square Bet South.

Dover boss Martin Hayes told www.doverathletic.com: “We wish Shaun all the best. I can’t guarantee anybody a regular starting place and I certainly did not want to stand in the way of Shaun’s opportunity with Margate.”

A club statement added: “Dover Athletic would like to thank Shaun for his service to the club over the past three years, which included an important contribution to the club’s consecutive Ryman League championships.”

O’Connell sent a text message to www.kentishfootball.co.uk at 2:15pm this afternoon to confirm terms have been agreed with both player and Dover Athletic.

And during a telephone interview, he said: “Well, basically I would have loved to have him at the end of last year. We were talking about it, but obviously he wasn’t available.

“When he became available this season I jumped at the chance. He’s a great player, great in the air, a great target man, who absolutely works 110% so I’m looking forward to him playing for us.”

When asked if he was happy with his squad at present, O’Connell replied, “You’re always looking aren’t you, but budget wise that will be it. It’s no an endless pot of gold. Obviously I will be looking if I can improve things I always will, but it means if I sign anyone else it will mean releasing someone and going from there.”

Margate’s second league game of the season - away to Croydon Athletic last night - was postponed at around 4:15pm - due to a waterlogged pitch.

O’Connell was frustrated, especially after his side came back from two goals down to claim a point against Canvey Island last Saturday, but felt sorry for Ian Jenkins and Joe Francis, as their Cray Wanderers’ side were leading 2-0 when their game against Carshalton Athletic was abandoned after 53 minutes due to a waterlogged pitch at Hayes Lane.

He said: “It was (frustrating), you don’t want to get behind so early in the season, but I think it would have been even more frustrating if we had it called off after 53 minutes and 2-0 up! It could have been worse!”

Margate make the 344-mile round trip to Lowestoft on Saturday and Leigh-on-Sea based O’Connell knows exactly what to expect at Crown Meadow.

“I actually saw them play last year when I was manager of (Great) Wakering. They’re very strong, very organised. They had very good support. I’d be surprised if there’s less than 800 people there on Saturday. They’re a big side and I expect them to be up there as well, but we can go there as there’s no pressure on us.

“I think we’re favourites to go down so we can go to a lot of games this year with no pressure on us and I just hope the lads can get out there and get a result and if they give us 100% we can do that.”

Margate favourites to go down? Surely not! O’Connell has brought players to Hartsdown Park this summer that should be pushing for a play-off place.

“It says in the bookmakers odds you will find we’re favourites to go down,” explained O’Connell.

“I don’t really bother to look at these odds but someone showed them to me and I just laughed at them really. There’s nothing else to say about it really! The bookmakers favour us to be odds on favourites to go down. When you look at our last two season’s, we’ve had a reprieve (from relegation) so that’s how they get their odds.

“I think we’ve drastically improved since then, so we’ll just see.”

Margate lock horns with Kent rivals Maidstone United at Hartsdown Park on Bank Holiday Monday (30 August, 3pm).

O’Connell said: “Well, it will be tough whatever. Obviously we’ve got a few more Maidstone players, we signed Maidstone players last year so they’ll be trying to prove a point against us.

“But derbies are different games, they’re always hard to predict, but again, I’m just hoping the lads give me 100% and I’ll be confident we can get the three points.”

The Margate boss was pleased with his players’ character against Canvey Island on the opening day of the new Ryman Premier League season, something that they’ll need this Bank Holiday weekend.

He said: “When we went 2-0 down I would have taken two-all, but after the game I was disappointed we didn’t win it because the second half we absolutely dominated the game.

“We scored two goals, yes, but the ball was constantly in the box so the players were upset they didn’t win it - but the team showed great character and that’s what we want if we want to do well this year.”

Defender Sam Groombridge (hamstring) and Jay Saunders (suspended) have been ruled out.

Visit Margate’s website: www.margate-fc.com

Lowestoft Town v Margate

Ryman Premier League

Saturday 28th August 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Crown Meadow, Love Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 2PA