It would be fantastic if we can win the league, says Welling United skipper Jack Parkinson

WELLING UNITED captain Jack Parkinson says his team-mates will not take their foot of the gas as they aim to seal a play-off place in Conference South.



The Wings are presently sitting in third-place in the Blue Square Bet South table, with 63 points from 32 games, level on points with second-placed Dartford, and both Kent sides are only six points adrift of long-term leaders Woking, who are suffering from the jitters, with three defeats in their last seven games.

Welling United, meanwhile, came away from Dover Athletic with a 1-0 win, but crashed to a 4-2 defeat away to relegation threatened Staines Town, but Jamie Day’s side bounced back with two home wins, over their Kent rivals Bromley (2-1) last weekend and a 2-0 success over Weston-super-Mare on Tuesday night.

“The one thing that we’ve been good at this year is that little bit of bounce back and we proved that against Bromley – it wasn’t a great game, it was a little bit scrappy but we got the three points,” said Bromley resident Parkinson.

The 22-year-old, who holds a UEFA A Licence, guided Bromley to the English Schools Inter Association Trophy Under 15 Final, following their deserved 1-0 win over Oxfordshire based Vale of White Horse at Beckenham Town’s Eden Park Avenue ground last night.

Parkinson added: “Even again on Tuesday night, it was a strange game, the way that Weston come.  It was like the Harlem Globetrotters.  There were no positions, they were just running around. They kept good possession and it was down to us to break them down at times and we did!”

The Wings’ look forward to two massive games in the next seven days – away to Chelmsford City on Saturday and at Woking seven days’ later.

Chelmsford welcome the Kent side sitting in fifth-place in the  table, with 58 points from 32 games, but their lead on over sixth-placed Dover Athletic has been reduced to eight points after losing 2-1 at Crabble in midweek.

“The next four games are important,” insisted Parkinson, whose younger brother Tom, 20, plays for Ryman League Division One South outfit Hythe Town.

“We’ve got Chelmsford, Woking, Maidenhead and Sutton.  Maidenhead on a Tuesday night is never, never an easy place to go. 

“We need to take each game as it comes. We’re confident now that we’ve got a squad of players who can go to the likes of Chelmsford and Woking, where it’s a little bit more physical and maybe a little bit more direct, to compete in that department and we’ve also got players’ that technically can have a right good go at teams as well.”

A few weeks’ back it appeared that Woking had the title sown up – but Parkinson hasn’t lost faith that the Wings can still snatch the title.

“With Woking dropping points, as  the gaffer said on Tuesday night, until it’s mathematically impossible we’re going to give it a right good go,” he said.

“It would be fantastic if we can win the league.  Our target is to stay in the play-offs and as long as we can keep winning – we can’t do nothing about other teams – we can have a say in what goes on and we can put a little bit more pressure on them then all the better but at the minute we can go to these places and we’ll have a go. 

“We’ll just see what happens. There’s still ten games to go, there’s a lot of points to play for.”

When asked what type of game he is expecting in Essex, Parkinson said: “It’s a hard place to go to. It’s quite a tight pitch. They’re decent, a big side, they’re physical.  They’ve got some good players.  They’re always in and amongst it.

“We need to be ready for a battle. I think that we know that now.  We’ve got players who have played in this league long enough.  We feel that we’ve got a good chance. We drew with them at home and we had a few players out but after a good win in the week we’re ready to go on Saturday.”

Nicky Forster’s Dover Athletic side are thirteen points adrift of the Wings and Parkinson said: “If we can pick up another three or four wins that should secure us in the play-offs, but we’re not going to take our foot of the gas.  We need to make sure we put the pressure on Woking and Dartford and see what happens.

“I know Dover beat Chelmsford on Tuesday night so Dover are still around it so that’s why we need to make sure we keep pushing on.

“I do believe all the teams around the top still have to play each other.  We still have to play three of the top six so it will be interesting to see what happens and our aims is to get into the play-offs. As long as we can do that then we’ll have to wait and see what happens beyond that.”

Parkinson was quick to praise the club’s management team for allowing the team to express themselves on the pitch.

He said:  “The gaffer’s been fantastic, along with Ash (Barry Ashby), Frosty (Dean Frost) and Stace (Stacey Beckham).

“We all enjoy playing, we like the environment that we’re in and I think that shows in the way we play. We’re a good footballing side.  We now got that other side to our game as well and that’s down to the gaffer.”

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

Chelmsford City  v  Welling United
Blue Square Bet South
Saturday 10^th March 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Melbourne Park, Salerno Way, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 2EH