ADRIAN PENNOCK hopes both Town and Welling will be celebrating come the end of the season.
The 34-year-old Welling manager was delighted with the Cup experience for his Conference South charges at the Galpharm, where Town ran out comfortable 4-1 FA Cup winners.
It was a change from the norm and Pennock wanted his team to enjoy every minute of the first-round limelight.
Even though they had a tough home clash with Farnborough just 48 hours later, Welling's squad milked the applause at the end of the tie, enjoyed a short training session on the pitch and then had a few pints in the players' bar before heading down the M1.
"I was really pleased for my players and for our fans," said Pennock in his post-match press conference.
"We haven't had a lot of home games recently because of the Cup run and they forked out a lot of money to come up here, so it was great to see them enjoying themselves so much.
"Our fans were absolutely great, but the Huddersfield supporters were brilliant as well.
"They applauded all our lads when we made the substitutions and they stayed afterwards to clap us off the pitch, which was nice.
"That's what football should be about, and I hope Huddersfield go on and have an excellent season.
"They've got a beautiful stadium, a tremendous management and, looking at the players and the way they perform, I think they've got every chance of staying at the top of League I.
"Hopefully we can match them in our League, although it's important we stay in contention first and make sure we're in a position to challenge nearer the end of the season."
Let's hope he's right on all fronts!
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