Kentish Express Ashford & District
Dan’s the go-to man
PARISH A KEY PLAYER FOR WARRILOW
Danny Parish is attracting plenty of interest after continuing his superb goal record for promotionchasing Ashford.
The striker has netted 17 times in 19 appearances for the Nuts & Bolts including a late winner against East Grinstead on Saturday.
Parish, the former Brentford youngster, joined the club in October and has been a key man for boss Tommy Warrilow.
“Dan will get goals,” said Warrilow. “I’ve had Dan for a couple of years now (Thamesmead previously) and I’m his biggest critic for the right reasons.
“He is a goal scorer and they’re worth their weight in gold but at the same time I’m trying to improve other aspects of his game as well.
“He used to always be offside but now he’s hardly ever offside. It’s little bits like that and he’s a good lad.
“I’ve had him a few years and it’s for his own benefit because the one thing he does do is score goals.
“It’s not until you stop playing that you look back and think ‘that was right, that was wrong’.
“I’m not doing it for the sake of it. People that have come to look at him have given me some feedback that I’ve passed on to Dan.
“Whatever I tell the lads, even if it’s negative, it’s for a positive reason.
“It’s all right doing what you’re good at all the time but it’s the weaker parts you need to practise, like your weaker foot.
“It’s all right drilling balls around with your right foot but you’ve got to work on your left foot. It’s not comfortable but you’ve got to do those sort of things.”
Ashford will be guaranteed a play-off place if they win four of their last seven matches in Bostik South East.
But that’s easier said than done, given six of those matches are against the other sides in the top seven.
They travel to second-placed Horsham on Saturday and also face Hythe, Cray, VCD, Hastings and Haywards Heath before the end of the regular season.
Warrilow said: “To be honest, I’d rather them as a player and as a manager. Four of those teams are in the top five. They are definitely six-pointers.
“I’m not building every game up but so far, we’ve had a good month.
“We’ve got a very difficult game away to Horsham, who are in fine form, and we’ve got to play better than we did on Saturday.”
Jay May should be fit to face Horsham although Warrilow won’t rush the striker back with the play-offs in mind.
New signings Jake McIntyre and Laurent Mendy both made their debuts against East Grinstead and should feature again.
“We want to finish as high as we can,” Warrilow said. “If we finish second we’ll get home advantage (in the semi-finals).
“We’ve only lost three games since we’ve walked in the door so I can’t fault the lads.”