The possibility of playing in the Irish Premiership for H&W Welders thanks to their new stadium is a ‘game changer’ for the club, claims Scott Davidson.
The central midfielder has starred for the East Belfast side in seven of the past eight seasons and has enjoyed title battles with the club, including when they missed out on the Championship crown to Ards on the final day of the 2015/16 campaign.
Yet the Welders moving away from their long-term Tillysburn Park home to their new state-of-the-art Blanchflower Stadium means that the possibility of promotion to the top-flight now exists.
“It is a totally different incentive for what the club can do and it is a game changer,” Davidson explained to Match on Tuesday.
“This is a club who always push at the top end of the league and have established ourselves as one of the best in the league.
“There is a still a core group of players who were here when we pushed Ards all the way to the league title not so long ago and we are always in that mix of clubs in the leading pack.
“We have never had that incentive though that if we were in the playoffs or won the league then we would go up, but now it has changed.
“The plan going forward is to win promotion to the Irish Premiership – nobody at the club will shy away from that.”
The Welders form at their new home has been mixed – four wins, two draws and four defeats – but Davidson insists it is only a matter of time until the ground becomes a fortress.
The midfielder added: “It was always going to take time for us to bed into the new stadium and really make it a difficult place to visit.
“We were used to playing at Tillysburn Park which was a nightmare for opposition players and the playing surface sometimes left a lot to be desired!
“Obviously the new ground is totally different, so we need to get used to that and adjust to how we play on it and approach things.
“The facilities at the new ground are unbelievable though and the club’s ambitions moving forward are really exciting.”
Ironically, the Welders away form has kept them firmly in the mix in the top six – Friday night’s win at league-leading Newry City was their eighth league win on the road this campaign.
“Newry are a good side so we knew we would have to dig in and do lots of defensive work,” Davidson continued.
“Away from home we have been picking up results all season and Friday night was another highlight during the campaign.
“This season we have been badly hit by injuries with lots of key players missing but it’s the fact that quite a few of those have been months and not weeks.
“The issue we have had in recent seasons is not being able to consistently beat sides below us in the division but we have always been able to beat those teams challenging for the title.”
