National League South, Bob Lucas Stadium, Saturday 2 February, 3PM
Happy February, Terras fans!
A new month and, hopefully, a new run of results.
January saw us battle hard in every game but without coming away with the wins that we so desperately need – the less said about that part the better.
But now a familiar team travels to our turf today, a side that Warren Feeney knows well.
Managed by our gaffer between 2022 and 2023, “The Wings” are our opponents once again for the second time in under a month.
With that partly in mind, we will be keen to put things right, in more ways than one.
With our 2-1 loss to Rod Stringer’s side being our first league loss in January, the defeat in South East London being a continuation of our winless streak since our famous FA-Trophy victory away to arch-rivals Yeovil almost two months ago.
If we are to win today, it will take an impressive performance against a Welling side who have picked up just about enough points to establish a widening gap between their current position, 20th-place, and the dreaded drop zone.
But for us it is not all doom and gloom, with our new signings looking to have an effect, most notably Diamond Edwards, the wizard winger’s energy up and down the flank being enough for you to select him as “Man Of The Match” after his first start.
HOW TO FOLLOW
We are delighted to announce that the ever-brilliant Ben Ashelford will be on commentary this afternoon; click HERE to access his in-game thoughts.
Live updates will also be provided across our social media platforms, followed by post-match reaction being uploaded after the final whistle.
DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
With our new wizard winger playing well enough for you to vote him as our standout man, let’s hear a little more about the new kid on the flank.
His performance may have come as little surprise to those who were aware of his history, and the clubs he has already been a part of.
Spending time at both Reading and Southampton at youth level, the former ranked above academies such as Arsenal and Manchester City as recently as last year, Diamond was then invited to train with the first-team in July 2022, before making an EFL-Cup appearance just a month later.
Fast forward to last year, the 21-year-old was signed on a permanent deal by Darren Moore to join League-Two side Port Vale.
It’s fair to say that bringing him to the Bob Lucas Stadium, even for just a month, has been quite the coup.
As Warren told us yesterday, we must thank Moore and our board for making that happen.
HOW HIGH HAVE THE WINGS BEEN FLYING?
We don’t need, or perhaps want, to look back at the last time this fixture was played, with it being less than one month ago.
We know how it ended…
At the time that was tipped as somewhat of a six-pointer, a Weymouth win that night putting us just six points behind The Wings with a game in hand.
But that didn’t happen, and since then life has been a little different for both teams…
With us, the less said the better, as we still search for our first win under a Warren-led team whose performances deserve many more points.
Stringer’s side, on the other hand, have picked up more wins.
One.
But that sole victory, an astounding 4-1 win away to Weston-super-Mare, who admittedly aren’t in great form themselves, has taken them to 30 points, nine above St Albans City, who occupy the first place of the dreaded drop zone.
Currently, there is a 14-point gap between today’s two teams.
But, as our chairman Paul Maitland said last week, we can’t give up now.
Plus, who knows where both teams may be at the end of the season?
