Welling boss Rod Stringer said his side gave everything in their New Year’s Day defeat at Maidstone.

A committed performance went without reward as Aaron Blair’s second-half header gave the Stones a 1-0 win at the Gallagher Stadium.

It was a third successive defeat for the Wings and one that keeps them 20th in National League South.

“I thought the boys gave us everything that myself and Kev (assistant manager Kevin Watson) and the rest of the staff would expect playing in a derby, which is a big Kent derby for Welling and Maidstone,” said Stringer.

“In the main, I thought the actual performance was a full-hearted, dogged performance.

“I thought other than their goal, I don’t recall Rhys (Lovett, goalkeeper) having too much to do.

“He had a save in the first half down at the near post.

“They’re very direct, they don’t give you a respite.

“As soon as they get a chance, they recycle it and put the ball in behind you again and they work off of knockdowns and flick-ons, so your concentration levels have to be bang-on.

“But I thought we dug deep and kept going and it was just a shame when we look back at the goal it’s probably preventable, maybe from the first phase, the corner, but we probably should have dealt with the loose header in the six-yard box which left Blair to do what Blair does and that’s pop up and score goals.

“But other than that, I don’t think they were loads better than us.

“I thought it was quite a tough derby and we had some reasonable chances in the first half.

Report: Maidstone 1-0 Welling

“I just think when you look at the two teams and the opportunities and what they try and create, they’re always going to be a threat, and first half we were probably a bit more of a threat going forward than we were second half.

“I thought we got penned in a little bit - maybe the wind didn’t help getting us out.

“I just said to the boys, you’ve got to take that performance with a lot of credit. It’s not easy to say when you lose 1-0 or you get beat.

“People go, well, what’s the credit out of that?

“But as a manager, I have to look at that and say what did I feel I got from the players today?

“I thanked them for looking after themselves over New Year’s Eve and I thought they were worked hard, they ran hard.

“Maybe the final margins, we got done on a little bit of quality but you always expect that coming to Maidstone.”

Welling have a weekend off before hosting second-bottom Weymouth at Park View Road on Tuesday night (7.45pm).

The Wings are seven points clear of the relegation zone but could do with ending their three-match losing run.

“Tough times don’t last, tough people do, and we have to just carry on having that mentality,” said Stringer, who’s in the market for a striker.

“As long as these players are always going to go out there and play for that shirt and want to try and turn this around [that’s the main thing].

“We are in a relegation situation but I’m looking back on those last three performances and I haven’t been overly disappointed.

“The difference is we haven’t scored goals when we’ve had opportunities and that’s where the balance needs to be.”