Welling boss Peter Taylor said the end result would have been the same, no matter how his side set up at Ebbsfleet on Saturday.

The Wings changed systems at half-time after shipping five first-half goals. It helped calm Ebbsfleet’s attacking impetus but Taylor felt that was as much to do with the game already being up, rather than any changes Welling made.

“It didn’t matter what system we started with, I don’t think that would have made any difference,” said Taylor who went from a back four in the first half to five at the back.

“The second half when a team is 5-0 up, I’m sure they start thinking about Maidstone on Tuesday night so Ebbsfleet probably took their foot off a little bit.

“I’m not one to praise the team for only losing one-nil second half as Ebbsfleet switched off a touch. Even though we improved second half, I’m not convinced that was down to the system.

“We had a very good preparation week and that’s why I’m so disappointed. That’s the level we are at the minute. You ideally want your team so you half-know what they are going to do.”

Not only did Welling make basic defensive errors, Taylor felt there was a lack of belief among his players.

They’ve yet to beat a top-half side under Taylor’s tenure and the Wings boss re-iterated that their habit of conceding early goals has to stop.

“There are other managers who have been in charge at Welling who have had a team that have crossed the white line and been very difficult to play against,” stated Taylor. “We weren’t that in the first 45 minutes.

“We were easy to play against and we didn’t have enough belief in our bellies to go and win the match, and that’s disappointing. That’s not good enough and it’s something we’ve got to get better at.

“The heads are all agreeing with me in the dressing room but it can’t keep happening. Too many times this year since I’ve got here and before I got here, Welling let in early goals. It gives you an almighty hurdle to jump over.

“I think in some of their bodies there is a little bit of fear early doors when they are playing against a top team in the division. It’s something if they want a career in football, whether it be Conference South, League 2 or League 1 they need to get it out of their system.

“If they are good enough players they’ve got to take every bit of their quality onto the pitch. Some of the things I know my players can do, we didn’t do. We didn’t run around enough, the basics, we didn’t close down enough so we allowed a very good team to look even better.”

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