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Welling United manager Warren Feeney reacts to 5-1 defeat at Dartford in National League South

Welling manager Warren Feeney believes some of his players can’t deliver what he’s asking from them.

The Wings were thrashed 5-1 at rivals Dartford on Tuesday night, with Feeney furious at his players for a lethargic display littered with individual errors.

Welling boss Warren Feeney - saw his side stuffed 5-1 at rivals Dartford. Picture: Dave Budden
Welling boss Warren Feeney - saw his side stuffed 5-1 at rivals Dartford. Picture: Dave Budden

“I counted five mistakes, four from one player, which is totally unacceptable,” said Feeney. “I Just told the boys that sometimes it’s too much for them.

“We gave ourselves a chance (at 3-1) but the (fourth) goal we gave away again is what you wouldn’t see in park football.

“They are just used to turning up, being comfortable. We’re trying to do something but we can’t do it so it’s something we need to look at.”

The defeat was a far cry from the excellent defensive performance Welling put in to claim a 1-1 draw at Ebbsfleet.

Since then they’ve shipped four goals at Braintree and conceded another five to Dartford. No team in the top 14 in National League South have let in as many goals as Welling.

“We’re very fragile,” added Feeney. “We’ve gone from a fantastic away record to conceding nine goals in two games which is very poor.

“It’s going to need to be looked at. I’ve said to the players we’ve got to go away and address it, even myself, as it’s not something I want to put my name to.

“Yes, we’ve come a long way from next year but I’ve said to them that I can’t accept that, not in a million years. I wasn’t brought up that way, and that goes back to what I said.

“We’re trying to do it professionally but some of them have never hit this level where we are, the demands are too much for them. One of them said the other day he needs to be 8 out of 10 every week. Yes, you do (but) try playing for a big club when you need to be 10 out of 10.

“I can take getting beat but I can’t take the way we conceded and gave away goals tonight.”

Feeney admitted his squad are too inconsistent.

“I spoke to an ex-professional footballer last week and he said the lower you go down the players are more big-time and arrogant,” added the Wings boss. “I can certainly see that and it’s a terrible thing to say.

“I’ve been used to a professional background all my life. I can’t take the acceptance of some of our boys. The top players do it week in, week out. Good players do it one in three, we’re doing it one in seven at the minute and that’s nowhere near good enough.

“We look as if there is a nervousness, there’s a fear to me. I don’t know how you can fear having the best job in the world and that’s something I’ve got to look at.

“The top players run as hard as they can until it’s their last day on earth, it touches on the mentality of some of the boys of where we are. Dartford have got momentum but they ran harder than us but they put balls in areas.

“For me it wasn’t a great game of football, they did the things we didn’t do right. They’ll look at the goals and think they were good, we’ll look at them and say we’re disappointed we’ve conceded them. 85 per cent of goals are mistakes and we certainly boosted that percentage tonight.

“I’m a bit worried about the way we collapsed and the away form in the last two games.”

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