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Welling manager Mark Goldberg has revealed their FA Cup win over Tavistock means they can pay their bills.
The Wings banked £11,250 in prize money with another £6,250 guaranteed even if they get knocked out in the next round.
But in an astonishing honest admission, Goldberg – also the Welling chairman – disclosed that the cash was needed to balance the books and avoid having to release players.
“It was critical,” said Goldberg. “We budget to win our first two games in the FA Cup.
“If we’d lost we would have had a bit of a problem but we didn’t so I don’t have to talk about that problem!
“It helps towards paying the bills. This time of year you always have a VAT bill that you need to pay and I’m being quite open with you that we rely on this win.
“I’m going to sleep a lot better than I did last week.”
When asked if it was a gamble to budget for cup success, Goldberg responded: “We did last year, we did it the year before. We always budget for winning two games, it’s something this club has always done.
“You don’t budget for winning the fourth qualifying round so if you win that then it’s a bit of a bonus.
“The fourth qualifying round can cost you depending on who you are playing and how far you have to travel.
“But if you can get to the first round proper then that puts you into a position where you can keep your players for the season instead of having to make changes.
“Unless you get to the third round then it doesn’t give you much apart from settling the squad.”
Goldberg’s delight at bringing in that extra revenue was tempered by his team’s poor display in the 4-1 team against a team who play three levels below the Wings.
To compound his misery, Goldberg lost substitute Aaron Cosgrave to a hamstring injury after bringing the player back in the fold too quickly.
“The player convinced me that he was fit,” said Goldberg. “I’m annoyed with myself as I have more knowledge and experience of these injuries and I know you can’t recover in 10 days from a hamstring injury.
“So I’m really upset with myself. Maybe I just thought it wasn’t a proper twinge and it was one of those that was just a bit tight but it’s obvious it was a grade one tear and now it could be a grade two or three.
“I’m upset with myself, I should know better.”
Such was Goldberg’s frustration, he barely mentioned son Bradley’s match-winning hat-trick.
“It’s difficult for me to mention my son,” added Goldberg. “He was clinical in the first half, less so in the second but he still made the keeper make a save. I don’t think he was responsible for us having a bad day.
“We weren’t ourselves at all. It was literally three good finishes which got us where needed to be at half-time but the rest of us our play wasn’t really good.
“(At the end, the players) thought I was going to have a right go at them but I went in and said ‘fantastic, we played absolutely awful and won’ so let’s enjoy it.”
When asked whether Goldberg wants to land former club Bromley in Monday’s fourth qualifying round draw, he replied: “It would be a really difficult one right now.
“We’ll take any team at home but preferably not one in the league above us.”
Meanwhile, midfielder Luke Rooney has joined Southern Counties East leaders Beckenham on a dual registration basis.
“It was always a question of we would have to allow someone to go out on loan or dual sign,” said the Wings boss.
“We’ve got more than enough central midfielders available to us. Luke was behind in the pecking order, he knew that and has gone out to get games.”
The London Senior Cup has been redrawn and Welling – who had originally been drawn at home to Corinthian Casuals – will now host Glebe or Erith Town.
