Hungerford wait on injured pair for Welling trip

Double match-winner Brown misses out with goal-scoring setback

HUNGERFORD TOWN are waiting on winger Alan O’Brien and defender Jon Boardman before naming a side to face Welling United at their Erith and Belvedere FC home on Saturday.

Both struggled through Monday night’s 2-1 home win over Weston-Super-Mare, when Hungerford won 2-1 with a second successive match-winner from Stefan Brown.

He had just returned following a month out with a hamstring injury, but in the process of netting from the spot on Monday, aggravated the same problem and now faces another spell on the sidelines while Boardman and O’Brien are both rated as 70-30 to make the trip.

However, Hungerford have extended striker Tom Meechan’s 28-loan from Newport County until the end of the season, and he will be in the squad for the game against a Welling side whose latest performance saw them go down 7-3 at Eastbourne Borough after the sides were locked at 3-3 with 10 minutes to go.

“But they are a good side with plenty of experience “ said Hungerford manager Bob Wilkinson, “and they caused us a lot of problems when they came to us.”

Hungerford remain one place outside the play-offs but are in close touch with the teams above, two of which they face in potentially decisive matches when they go to Poole Town on April 4 and entertain Chelmsford City in their final league match on April 29.

“Every game now is like a cup final,” said Wilkinson. “We didn’t play well on Monday, but if we win all eight games now playing like that, we’ll be happy.

“But who expected we would ever be talking about the play-offs at this time of the season when we came into this league?”

What are the odds?

HUNGERFORD find themselves as slight favourites with bookies for Saturday’s game, quoted at 5/4 by bet365.

The home side are priced around 13/8 with a draw at 13/5 while a 1-0 win for either side is quoted at 8/1 and 9/1 respectively.