Bristow takes Welling disappointment as a positive (From This is Hampshire)

Bristow takes Welling disappointment as a positive

10:00am Monday 11th March 2013 in Hampshire Sport By John Boyman

BASINGSTOKE Town manager Jason Bristow says that being disappointed not to have beaten league leaders Welling United shows how far his side has come in recent weeks.

Manny Williams’ first-half goal looked to have secured Town all three points as Saturday’s game in Kent entered injury-time – but Jake Gallagher scored with just 20 seconds of the additional time left to earn the hosts a draw.

It was a second excellent display in the space of four day’s from Bristow’s men, who did Welling a favour by bringing second-placed Salisbury City’s unbeaten home record to an end last Tuesday.

“I would have definitely taken four points from the two games and on Saturday morning, if you had offered me 1-1 I would have taken it,” Bristow admitted. “The way we ended up getting it means we are disappointed – but that just shows how far we have come in recent weeks.”

Despite feeling disappointment at the end result, Bristow had nothing but praise for his side.

“Once again I cannot fault the players,” he added. “They were excellent again and to concede with 20 seconds to go was really unfortunate.

“We defended well as a team. The back four were excellent but the others all ran their socks off as well.

“It was very similar to the game against Salisbury in that they had a lot of possession in the second-half but we defended well. The goal was their only clear chance.”

The point leaves Town 14th in the Blue Square Bet South table, six points above the relegation zone.

Bristow said: “I think we need three more wins to be safe but we want to win as many games as we can and finish as high up the table as possible. We have set high standards for ourselves and if we live up to them then we should finish the season very well.”

See The Monday Gazette for a full report.