Our team was a bit of a mix, combined from two teams our first team and our under 23 team - and I am guessing Cray Valley probably played their regular team so were more used to playing together, it was actually a close game, but we played well considering the lack of familiarity across our team.

The first team has been passing sideways and backwards a bit too much in recent games, so it was good to see Cameron passing forwards a lot, and his recent injury issues make his performance all the better. Of the younger players Tom Osei looked very good.

It was nice to see Stefan was there as a spectator and good to have a quick chat with him before the match.

I was struck by the interest in the St Albans match thread, and saw it has the most replies of any post since 2005, so great there is such interest about the team progress, as we have been top 10 for three months, and still are there, despite some recent less than ideal results. Welling has been a victim of far too much short term thinking, and after having three managers last season it is crazy thinking of sacking the current manager, as he and the team need time and stability while the highs and lows of the season even out.

Having Ebbsfleet and Dartford in our next four games isnt ideal, but we have a smoother run of games after that, so I am looking forward to better results when our new players settle in, as we are fine in goal, fine in defence, fine in attack, and just need to sort out the midfield creativity so we give more supply to the strikers and close down more quickly. But the young players looked promising against Cray Valley, it will be interesting to see how the next round against Charlton's U21 team goes.