MATCH PREVIEW | THE WINGS

Wanderers Back Home & Looking To Return To Winning Ways Meadowbank will host league action for the first time since the end of October this Saturday as Welling United are the visitors. Wanderers returned to National League South matters last weekend after a three week gap with a trip to Chippenham Town. An eight minute hat-trick from Harry Parsons in the first half rocked Wanderers, and despite Matt Briggs getting a goal back before the break, a comeback couldn't be completed in the second half, and Ricky Aguiar added a fourth for the hosts late on to add further emphasis to the win. Dorking's heaviest defeat since the away game at Havant & Waterlooville early in the 2019/20 campaign, Marc White conceded that his side had had 'a defensive calamity' in the first half and acknowledged the need for improvement on the road as form so far this term has not been where it needs to be. By contrast home form has been stronger, and the manager also provided further reasons to be optimistic heading into this weekend's fixture with news that the outlook is looking brighter on the injury front. Isaac Philpot and Wes Fogden are both making good progress in recovery from their respective longer term injuries, and James McShane and Bobby-Joe Taylor are likely to be back in contention for the weekend's game after completing sessions this week. David Ray is also back in training, but Sami-El Abd, Callum Kennedy and Jimmy Muitt will be ruled for a few more weeks to come and unlikely to feature until nearer the new year. Slav Huk is unfortunately looking likely to continue being abscent until February/March time. Further to the recent outfield additions of Darren Oldaker and Jordan Cheadle, who both made their debuts last weekend, and the loan move of Callum Kealy to Worthing, the club confirmed further player movement this week, specifically in the goalkeeping department. Stuart Nelson has left the club after arriving in the early part of the season, coming in following the departure of summer signing Lee Worgan. We wish Stuart all the best moving forward. The new stopper between the sticks will be Dan Lincoln. A professional cricketer by trade, Dan has enjoyed footballing success previously at Bognor Regis with over 100 appearances and having played alongside Sami El-Abd. It's also been confirmed Josh Wilson has been given a first team squad number after impressing in the Reserve side this season following his development through the Wanderers academy. We welcome both to the first team, with Dan likely to make his debut on Saturday. The Wings

Following a tough campaign last season, with the club sat bottom of the league at the time of the early curtailment, Welling will of course be hoping to move forward and make progress in the right direction this term, the club having reached the National League South play-off finals not so long ago. Unfortunately a 'hangover' from last season did carry over into this one, and after an opening run of three heavy defeats and an early FA Cup exit to Harrow Borough, manager Steve Lovell and assistant Tristan Lewis resigned from their roles towards the end of September. Experienced former Premier League, EFL and England U21 manager Peter Taylor was quickly appointed as the new boss, and the results of the past couple of months have shown the side to be more competitive and gradually moving away from the lower reaches. The manager did bring in a few fresh faces through the course of October, one of them being goalkeeper Jack Sims, who has caught the eye with a couple of man of the match and team of the week displays following his arrival from Blackpool's academy. Fellow signing Maxwell Statham has been a regular in defence, his background being from the Tottenham youth system, and the club has recently extended the loan of Millwall U23's defender Arthur Penney. Non-league journeyman forward Tom Derry was also brought in very recently, adding extra competition at the attacking end of the pitch where last season's top scorer Dipo Akinyemi leads the way again with 3 goals in the league so far. After back to back home wins and clean sheets at the end of October moving into November, Welling are without a win in four following exits from the FA Trophy and London Senior Cup (to Hungerford Town and Dulwich Hamlet respectively), and league defeats away to Ebbsfleet Town and last time out at home to Eastbourne Borough. They will head to Meadowbank this weekend very much looking to 'stop the rot'. #Throwback The side's met back in February in what turned out to be the last league game at Meadowbank before the early season finish. It would be Wanderers most emphatic win of the campaign; a 5-0 victory with goals courtesy of Alfie Rutherford and Nicky Wheeler in the first half, before Jason Prior, James McShane and Matt Briggs rounded out the victory in the second.