MANAGER Derek Williams praised his attacking players as Wellington served up a New Year treat by smashing Cradley for seven.

Paul Jones, Aaron Morgan and Ben Fischer all chipped in with two goals each in an extraordinary match that finished 7-4.

“I thought Aaron Morgan was terrific up front,” said Williams.

“We’ve got a few options now with Paul Jones going upfront with Aaron which gives us another dimension.

“Ben Fischer can also push up if needed and so can Josh Hunt.

“I thought in the end we should definitely have got an eighth but Josh and Ben couldn’t make up their mind who wanted to kick it in the net.”

Fischer, who tormented Cradley all game, said he loves playing with Morgan and Jones.

“Aaron Morgan and Paul Jones are top quality players, with Aaron holding it up and ‘Norm’ getting the players to go past him,” he said.

“I love playing with them.

“I have been utilised on the wing and up top, I’m just happy to do a job for the team.

“Wherever Derek wants to play me, I’ll play.”

Wellington got off to the perfect start when Jones scored after just 40 seconds.

Fischer said the lightning-quick start did not surprise him.

“We’re normally pretty good starting off compared to last season when we seemed to concede early,” said Fischer.

“Now we seem to start quick but maybe sometimes don’t go for the full 90 minutes and that is when we sometimes concede goals.”

Williams said that, although he was disappointed with the goals his team conceded, he thought the back five played well.

“We were without our captain Andy Price but Will Perkins filled in the gap for him and did quite well and so did our goalie,” he said.

“He punched well in the first half and the full-backs dealt well with two tricky wingers.

“I also thought Ben Thomas was outstanding at centre-half .”

After Jones opened the scoring for Wellington, Cradley equalised after 13 minutes when David Almond punished a defensive mistake to stroke home.

Within three minutes though Wellington were back in front when Fischer nodded home Perkins’ free-kick.

But again Cradley hit back, with Chris Bladen's effort coming back off the bar and into the net.

Wellington went 3-2 up on 30 minutes when Perkins tapped home after being set up by Jones before Jones added another on the stroke of half-time.

Morgan made it 5-2 four minutes after the break and Jones grabbed his second shortly afterwards.

The score remained 6-2 for nearly 20 minutes before Cradley pulled a goal back through another Bladen goal. Fischer then scored his second of the game 11 minutes from time before Cradley’s James Welnitschuk completed the scoring. Wellington travel to strugglers Wednesfield this Saturday for a league fixture before facing Bromyard in the semi-finals of the HFA County Challenge Cup.

Chairman Phil Smith admits the cup has always been illusive for Welly.

“The County Cup is always nice to win, it’s the pecking order and bragging rights for the next 12 months,” said Smith.

“We’ve only won it once and been in the semi-final and final a few times.

“So it has been a bit illusive for us over the years.”