O’s secured automatic promotion to League One despite a 2-0 defeat at Gillingham in midweek, which ended a 13-match unbeaten run.
And they welcome Crewe to Brisbane Road on Saturday knowing a win can clinch the title – having sat at the top of the table for the majority of the season.
“In my mind, I’ve always thought we were top,” Wellens told the club website.
“You win your first nine and draw one of your first 10, how were we not top? I don’t understand, I thought we were top all along, I’m obviously wrong.
“We’ve been there a long time, we need to make sure, I’ll let the boys enjoy it but we need to refocus, reset for the last four games.
“I’ve seen it before with teams. Portsmouth under Paul Cook were never top of the league until the last five minutes because Doncaster and I can’t remember the other team, were promoted so early, they switch off and didn’t win the title.
“We need to make sure we’re at it, we’ll give the players a couple of days off because it is a late night, but we’ll come in Friday ready for Crewe.”
O’s won nine of their first 10 league matches – drawing the other at Swindon – before suffering their first loss against Newport County on October 1.
Draws with Doncaster and Northampton then followed, before they reeled off seven more wins in their next eight – losing at Wimbledon.
Goalless draws with Stevenage and Newport at Christmas were followed by defeat at Northampton at the start of the new year, as O’s took just four points from 15 in January.
They added 14 from 18 points in February, but were held to three successive draws in March before taking nine points from 12 in April ahead of their trip to Gillingham.
And Wellens believes their form over the course of the campaign makes them deserving of the title, adding: “It’s up to me to keep my standards. I think I’ve got a winning mentality and that spreads onto the players, so there will be no letting up.
“We believe we deserve to win the league but it’s a really dangerous time of year when you’re already promoted with four or five games to go.
“We’ve seen Burnley the other day, been blowing every team away and as soon as they win promotion they go and draw 0-0 with Reading. We just need to make sure there’s no complacency about.”
Players and staff celebrated wildly on Tuesday, with O’s again cheered on by a large travelling support.
And Wellens says that togetherness on and off the pitch is key moving forwards.
“You need that to win, to achieve anything,” he said.
“Every club that achieves a promotion this year, every club in the past, will have a togetherness, a spirit, because you have to go through some hard times.
“We went through some hard times in January when we had the injuries, the suspensions and new players being bedded in, and we’ve come through that, the lads have been terrific.
“I can’t speak highly enough of every single member of the coaching staff, and we have a squad where there’s no ego, they’ve together.
“We have some of the best lads who are not playing and not even in the squad tonight that keep the group together and do things correctly, and I think that’s infectious and it spreads.”
With two home games remaining, Wellens is now hoping to further strengthen the bond with fans by securing silverware.
“Ever since my first home game, 13/14 months ago against Rochdale, I felt the love from them, so I’m really pleased we’ve rewarded them,” he added.
“But it’s just a start, we want to make sure the last two home games are special.
“We’re going to have a big say in the promotion chase because we’ve got three of the top five or six so lets make these next three weeks really special, then the bond we’ve got can get bigger.”
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