IT’S NOT ALL WELL AND GOOD

King knows only hard work will turn round Rec’s decline

are going to be at training two nights a week and committed to playing every week because we didn’t have that.

“I’d rather have people who are going to be committed rather than good players who are going to turn up every other week.”

Certainly, with King’s track record as a manager, the Wellington job seemed tailor-made.

After his successes at Grange and Islandmagee, he accepted the managerial role at Brookvale in April 2017 in the knowledge he was inheriting a team with just one win in 24 league outings and having suffered back-toback relegations.

Yet he managed to steady the ship, with the harbour outfit battling their way to a creditable mid-table finish last season to raise expectations ahead of the new campaign.

With just two wins from six so far, however, King admits he now rues his failure to reinforce the squad sufficiently over the summer beyond the arrivals of Nathan Henry, Kyle Agnew and Philip Mckendry.

But with a few new additions pending, he’s confident Wellington can re-assert themselves at the business end of the table.

“I thought after last year, this season we would really kick on, but it’s been a slow start so we set ourselves a target there in training on Thursday night of where we want to be in a couple of weeks and then if we get to that, then we’ll set another target,” explained King.

“But it’s hard to say because in this league, everybody is beating everybody, there’s not that big a gap yet, so if we could add a few in over the next couple of weeks, I think we’ll be moving up the table.

“We lost a few players like Gareth Bond, John Thompson and Lee Rea, and they were big players for us, experienced players, and we are a very young squad now, that’s where we are lacking, we need more experience in from somewhere.

“But the next few weeks will tell a tale, if we get a few wins under our belt, I think we’ll be up there or thereabouts. I’d like to get into the top four, and keep building the squad. We are a young squad so we need to stick together and they are learning every week, but they are a good bunch of lads, good lads to work with.

“I feel we still need two or three players but we’re hoping to get a few across the line here and hopefully they will make a difference.”

TIME TO FOCUS Stevie King has set his side targets in a bid to keep them working hard