Keith Boanas remained proud of his players, despite being disappointed as his Welling United Women’s team suffered a 2-1 defeat at Dorking Wanderers in the Capital Women’s Cup on Sunday. 

The Wings’ women were up against it in the cup tie with the game having been moved to the home of the Wanderers after two previous postponements at Park View Road due to the recent freezing temperatures, meaning home advantage was lost, while Boanas was without four key players. 

Dorking, who are run by Callum Best, son of football legend George Best, came away with the victory against the less experienced Wings, but only as a result of a goal being controversially ruled out.

And while Boanas was disappointed with the nature of the goals his side conceded, he remained upbeat due to the performance in difficult circumstances. 

“Under the circumstances, there were plenty of positives to take from it,” he explained.

“The biggest disappointment was the goals we conceded and, without a shadow of a doubt, we had a perfectly good equalising goal ruled out by a linesman provided by the home side, so it was one of those that made it a choker.”

Olivia McGregor, Natalie Crimean, Lilli Maple and Parker Dunn have all been key players for Welling this term, but were all unavailable at the weekend. 

Indeed, Boanas believes that it could well have been a very different outcome had even just two of those missing were involved. 

“We also had four key players missing, so there was plenty going against us,” he said. 

“With two of those missing players available and being back on our home turf, I’m confident we would have beaten them. It was a nip and tuck game and it was a good cup tie. 

“We had a bit less experience out there, but those girls acquitted themselves well. The challenge for them was that they had an opportunity to go out there and make my decisions harder for next week if those missing players become available.”

Meanwhile, Boanas was full of praise for Wings goalscorer Sarah White, whose consolation strike was the pick of the bunch on the day. 

“The goals we conceded were both avoidable, but ours was the best of the three,” said Welling’s boss. 

“Sarah picked the ball up in midfield, beat three or four players and slotted it in. Her work effort was fantastic and she was my player of the match. She’s a 40-year-old mother of two and she puts some of the younger players to shame!”

The Wings Women’s next challenge is a League Cup tie on Sunday at home to Worthing, who are flying high at the top of the league above. 

And Boanas insists that it’s the sort of challenge his team should be striving for. 

“These are the games we want to be playing,” he explained. 

“We don’t want to be beating teams in the lower league by six, eight and 10 every week, these are the levels that we want to be reaching to be challenging ourselves. 

“These are the games that find you out and it will be a great challenge for our girls. We’ll give it a bloody good go and we’ll be on our home turf. 

“Having a few extra fans there will encourage them and they will 100% appreciate that support. We’re aiming to move forward and grow and we’re already seeing those signs.” 

The club are offering 1,000 FREE matchday tickets for U16s for the women’s team’s clash against Worthing on Sunday, February 5th at Park View Road (1.30pm) as part of the club’s Community Initiative.

Click here to get your tickets for Welling United Women v Worthing Women