AS REBUILDING CONTINUES

Ashford United have continued their squad rebuild by signing former Welling keeper Michael McEntegart.

Aaron Lee-Wharton has been playing in goal since George Kamurasi left to join Greenwich Borough but manager Jason Whitmore felt it was important to have someone more experienced as No.1.

He said: “This is a proper restructuring programme that I wanted to take on board.

“Aaron, who we love dearly in the club, still needs to develop. He’s not the finished article.

“We wanted to find the right person who could come in, develop Aaron and at the same time, compete for No.1, which is what we need in the club.

“Look at Macca’s profile and he’s got experience. He was at Everton as a young lad, played for Welling in the Conference and was offered the Dover No.2 this year but turned it down because it wasn’t right for him.

“This seems the right fit for him and us. He wants to coach and play.

“It’s the building process at the back that we need. We need a good senior keeper with some other senior players.

“Me and Paul Barnes want to move the club forward, rebuild the whole environment and turn the club around.

“Sometimes you take a couple of steps backwards but the fundamentals are there.

“We know what we’re doing. I know sometimes the fans don’t necessarily see the hard work that’s going on behind the scenes but it’s about putting the foundations in place.

“The club wasn’t in a position to play for another four or five years with the team they had because they were all in the twilight years of their career.

“We need proven players who

‘This seems the right fit. . . it’s the building process at the back that we need’

have done it at this level, at the right age, so we can then bring our youth through like Aaron, Brandon Williams and Max Watters, so they can develop. “That, for me, is the real key.” Ashford, second-bottom in Bostik South, host Thamesmead Town on Saturday.

They’ve gone 13 games without a win – a run stretching back to September.

Whitmore said: “We’ve now got to start getting points on the board and I expect that to start on Saturday. There is no reason that can’t happen.”