Pitterson starts with substitute goalkeeper Idem on the bench. Papadopoulos and Tanga are rested. White and Kassarate start.

Papadopolous on for Bramble

0-0 Full Time

My thoughts on the evening + ground {unfortunately I feel like I need to comment on this}:

1. Was a well deserved point; some could argue 3 was nearly deserved.

2. Youngster goalkeeper was very good and made some good saves and kept the scoresheet at 0-0. Maidstone keeper made some good saves also.

3. The tannoy was inaudible on both the road and park end - couldn't hear 50/50, substitutions or attendance.

4. The toilet facilities E&B side were near unusable; no lighting and people were relying on their phones flashlight to use them.

5. The alleyway on the Welling side could do with extra lighting as it is 30 seconds away from a H&S incident.

6. In regards to the redevelopment - why are all the advertising boards still present within the marque with no further information from the developers?

5. Why 30 seconds?

A great game, it was a draw that felt like a win. Maidstone were so quick and dangerous on the break, but we matched them everywhere on the pitch.

The player rotation worked perfectly tonight, the different formation worked perfectly, our fitness was great, and the team already looks as though it has been playing together for ages, rather than just a few months.

There is an interesting site which shows our results in columns for W D L, www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd and it helped me see that we have now had 3 draws against top 7 sides, and 2 wins and a draw against lower half teams, so our November fixtures against mostly lower teams looks promising, as if we can play like we did against Boreham Wood and Maidstone, where we hit the bar in both games, so otherwise could have had a draw and a win, surely we can do well against lower placed teams and close the gap on the teams above us.

Gutsy performance against a really good full time team. Battled really hard and played some nice football again. From the outside 0-0 might look like it was a boring game but if you were there then you know it was far from that. A very entertaining game with two teams playing well and going toe to toe. Welling might have even nicked the win towards the end and were unlucky to hit the post. The draw was probably the fair result. I also see it very much as a bonus point, expected to lose just because how good Maidstone United are. Now for the run of important games that we are capable of winning, should win and need to win. Put more points on the board. Special mention to Javarn Pitterson who was outstanding in goal for Welling United.

Verdict: Very pleased with the extra point I wasn't expecting

COYW

Javarn's distribution deserves a mention, as I really enjoyed his accurate passes to our players, instead of being like most keepers who just kick it out and hope we get on the end of it.

Kain Adom was really good, he has been a bit of a fringe player, but despite that is our leading scorer, and it wouldnt be a surprise if he plays a much bigger role from now on.

I don't normally go to the home bar after our matches, but will after Chippenham, so if you see a fan with the fashion accessory of an accompanying bespectacled 12 year old, that will be me. I was really pleased to meet Jamison at Gosport, as he introduced himself after he recognised me from my description of having my son with me, and it was so nice to put a face to Jamison. Hopefully Wallop and Alan will spot me and say hi, as they are some of my favourite posters here.

Last season was weird, as we started of brilliantly, 5 wins from our first 8 games, and then a slump for the next six months, and it was only at the end of the season the mysterious great start became more understandable, as in hindsight we had started off playing quite a few teams who went on to have bad seasons, so without realising it at the time had got a great set of opening fixtures. This season is the opposite, most of our early matches have turned out to be against teams who are high in the table, so our early results havent been great. But fixtures even out over a season, and we now have a run of hopefully easier games, so if we could manage 3 wins from our next 6 games against bottom half of the table, that may be enough to close the 5 point gap. We played so well against Boreham Wood and Maidstone, and the teams we are now going to play are way below that level, so our patience with Welling will hopefully be rewarded