JAMIE Day was impressed by his Welling players despite going down to a 4-0 defeat at home to Championship side Charlton on Saturday.
The Wings were more than a match for their illustrious neighbours in the opening period and went in level at the break.
Both sides made wholesale changes for the start of the second half and it was the Addicks who eventually ran away with it after Joe Obersteller’s own goal was added to by further strikes from Michael Smith, Johnnie Jackson (pen) and Danny Haynes.
But even though the non-leaguers were well beaten in the end, player manager Day took plenty of positives from the display.
He said: “In the first half we moved the ball really well and I feel their team was slightly stronger in the second half than the first half but I’m pleased with the way we played.
“I thought we passed the ball well, the movement was good and we caused them a few problems.
“We aren’t too worried about the result. For me it is a good start and now we’ve good to build that up and keep putting on the good performances for the next games and get ourselves ready for Bath at home.
“All of the new signings had an impact in the game.
“Fraser Franks did well at the back, Keirnan Hughes-Mason looked lively on the right wing and the two lads up front worked hard. I’m pleased with them.
“Obviously we are only at the start of it and we’ve got a long way to go and they need to keep progressing but I’m pleased with how all of the new signings did against Charlton.”
Day added: “We’ve been back for two weeks and had six or seven sessions.
“We’ve worked them fairly hard and used the ball in all of the sessions, as well as doing a bit of running.
“The fitness looked quite good against Charlton.
“It isn’t going to be as good as the team we were playing against on Saturday but I’m pleased with where we are at the minute.”
Day again hinted there will be more new signings coming in before the season kicks off at home to Bath on August 18.
“We would like to add two if we can,” he said.
“I will probably have a meeting with the chairman to see what money we’ve got left and look to bolster it with another couple of signings if we can.
“If not then we definitely need to add one more to the squad to make it 16 and then we are ready to go.
“The boys did exceptionally well last year, put in good performances and were consistent week in week out, so we need to do that again.
“I’ve said I think this year will be a lot harder.
“There are teams who have spent a lot of money and have got big squads, so I think we need to be realistic and try and aim for the play-off places if we can.
“We’ve got good players and the signings we’ve made have stepped in and I know they’ve improved our squad from last year. We need to raise the bar a little bit from our point of view so hopefully we can do that.”
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