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Welling United boss Jamie Day hopes Dartford avoid relegation from Skrill Premier and would like Ebbsfleet United to join them next season

Jamie Day. Picture: Andy Payton
Jamie Day. Picture: Andy Payton

Welling player-manager Jamie Day hopes Dartford can avoid relegation from the Skrill Premier.

Day, 34, made only his sixth league appearance of the season in Friday's local derby at Park View Road and played the full 90 minutes as the Wings earned a 1-1 draw.

Welling have made a good fist of their first season back in non-league's top flight and are well-placed to beat the drop.

But Dartford, for whom Friday's draw ended a wretched run of 10 straight league defeats, are deep in relegation trouble.

Day played under Darts manager Tony Burman before leaving to take charge of the Wings in 2009 and he'd like to see his former mentor pull off the Great Escape.

He said: "I've known Tony a long time. No manager likes to see someone else in the position they've been in and hopefully he can turn it round because I wouldn't want to see Dartford go down.

"For us, as a local derby game, it's one that we want next year and if Ebbsfleet and other teams were to come up, it's better for us.

"So hopefully (Dartford) can turn the corner. Tony's a good enough manager, more experienced than me, anyway, so he knows what he's doing.

"But we've just got to worry about ourselves. We need to get five or six wins (to make ourselves safe). Hopefully we can do that and hopefully Dartford can stay up as well."

Day, whose side came from behind to win 2-1 at Princes Park on Boxing Day, was philosophical after Friday's rematch.

He said: "We've played Dartford twice and we've got four points. At the start of the season, we would have taken that. Obviously, we'd like to have got six but I think the way the game panned out on Friday night, no team really deserved to win. It was a scrappy affair and both teams would probably settle for a point in the end."

Welling went behind on 10 minutes but crucially, they got an quick equaliser when Ross Lafayette scored from the penalty spot after Lee Clarke had been fouled.

Day said: "We've had it done to us in previous weeks. If they score, you need to respond quickly and if you don't, you make it more hard work for yourselves.

"Credit to the boys, they bounced back quickly and we got a response. I felt we played better after that but the end product wasn't where it should be."

Welling are back in action on Tuesday when they host rock-bottom Hyde.

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