After having watched them play and taking their training session last week nine of the Under 18 side have been selected by Aide for tonights LSC tie at Cray Wanderers. The nine are:
Gabriel Odunaike Jack Badu Mark Eaton Ian Brooke Chris Dunphy Ed Willoughby Joel Thompson James Cummings Matt Vitty
If my maths are correct that should leave 7 first team/squad players.
Congratulations and the very best of luck lads.
-- Edited by bruno at 12:30, 2006-10-25
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
Erm... they only beat the Wands first team. Oi Oi!!
Superb performance and ive posted a longer message in the Youth Team forum.
Absolutely Fantastic,
Well done to all the players (First team and Youth team) who pulled off the win and kept the unbeaten run going. Is that 11 matches now?? for the FIRST TEAM squad?
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
Tonight was just so full of positives its hard to know where to begin.
As most of you will probably have guessed I'll start with the Under 18's who played tonight and in my opinion justified Adie's faith in them. It would be wrong to single any one of them out since they all played their part in the victory over what turned out to be Cray Wanderers first team. No doubt by the time I've finished this posting one or two names will slip out to make a point but down to a man they showed how much the wearing of the Wings shirt meant to them.
Adie and Phil took the lads development one stage further and in doing so demonstrated exactly why they have been able to produce a quality first team squad from relatively unknown players. There was no castigation from the bench when errors were made just positive comments about what should be done next time. I understand that at half time each of the Under 18's was spoken to individually by Phil and it didn't take long for his pearls of wisdom to reap their rewards on the pitch as the lads grew in confidence. I also understand that having made his final substitution Ade took the unlucky sub Jack aside and had a chat with him. It may not be rocket science but I'm sure that the way the lads were treated, in what for most was their full Welling debut, will remain with them throughout their footballing careers - just don't ask them about the essential item they had to bring with them!!!
It was also very pleasing to hear that Barrie Hobbins went into the dressing room afterwards and was complementary about the lads performance.
Ken got promotion to first team waterboy Sorry mate couldn't resist it.
In all seriousness it was a great night for Ken seeing so many of his lads making first team appearances, a deserved reward for his efforts over the last 2 years and one step nearer to achieving his ambition of getting at least one player into the regular first team squad. He told me afterwards that he too had gained from his involvement tonight which at Aide's request meant becoming part of his team for the night rather than sitting in the stand as a proud Dad.
Tonight also provided the opportunity to see Wings and Non League legend Gary Abbot still plying his trade at the tender age of 42 and he lasted the full 90 minutes despite it being his first appearance for a month following a hamstring injury.
I was also pleased that the lads were able to show the travelling support what they are capable of. Perhaps having seen them some will find the time on a not too distant Sunday to come along and give them a bit of support in their endeavours in the KYL.
The game I hear you cry. Well my view was that Welling held their own in the first half. It would be fair to say that Cray were more threatening but they were kept out until just before half time.
The second half saw Welling increasing in confidence as it progressed with the players finding strategies to negate the Cray threat. The telling point for me came when Gabriel was introduced with about 25 minutes to go. His speed and strength provided that something which was needed to get Welling into the match and he justified his inclusion with a well taken goal. The fitness of the Welling side really told in the closing stages and the pressure they were exerting gave rise to the own goal and from my admittedly biased point of view a well earned victory.
For a Cray perspective about the match and our youth players I had a chat with Abbo after the match. Not unexpectedly he felt that Cray were the better team. He thought that our goal was scored from an offside position and that their striker had an off day and should have put 6 or 8 past us. As far as the youth players went he felt that we had some good prospects. He wished Welling well in both this competition and Saturday's FA Cup tie which would have seen him at PVR had it not been for the fact that Cray have a training session on Saturday afternoon.
I don't know about anyone else but I got in for £4 - judging by what James said in his report they must have assumed I was a 'wrinkly' - I dont know whether to be pleased about the bargain entrance fee or to cry in my beer because they put 10 years on me.
If you've got this far you will be pleased to know that this is the end of my ramblings.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
I was shocked at the admission price - £7 for LSC and Welling's Youth team - Once I realsied it was Cray's first team it made more sense - their game on Tuesday night being called off. However I left feeling it was 7 quid well spent as it was a really enjoyable game and I was very impressed with how well the whole team performed. Their heads never dropped after going one down and despite what Abbo felt, Welling totally deserved the win.
Well done to all concerened.
On an aside, this wasn't my first time at Hayes Lane but I was again struck by what is an impressive non-league ground. Better then many others we visit in the Confernce South.
