WELLING secretary Barrie Hobbins has given manager Neil Smith more time to turn their season around.

Hobbins refused to put a limit on how long he will give the rookie boss, but he refused to press the panic button after the club’s FA Trophy defeat at Wealdstone last Saturday.

On the back of an early FA Cup exit and just one win in the last six league games, fans called for Smith to resign after the team’s inept display at Wealdstone.

But Hobbins said: “It’s something that we thought a lot about over the weekend and it would have been easy to make a hasty decision.

“Neil has only had three and a half months in the job and we are happy to give him more time. It won’t be through a lack of effort if he doesn’t turn things around.”

Hobbins, along with general manager Barry Hobbins, met with Smith on Monday morning and the pair made a number of points about how they see the club moving forward.

“It’s a question of common sense but Neil knows that it is a results business and results are, in the end, the be all and end all,” added Barrie Hobbins.

Welling welcome back Robbie Ryan (hamstring), Andy Pugh (illness) and Charles Ademeno (unavailable) for Saturday's trip to Bognor.