Kentish Express Ashford & District
Tommy: Let’s kick on
Tommy Warrilow hopes Ashford’s second-half performance at VCD is the catalyst they need to finish the season strongly.
The Nuts & Bolts earned a first win in four matches with Saturday’s 3-1 success on the road.
Luke Burdon - a first-half substitute for the injured Tariq Ossai - scored twice and Gary Lockyer clinched victory at the death to keep Ashford second in Isthmian South East.
Victory at Lancing this Saturday should all-but-secure a play-off place for the Nuts & Bolts, who came good at VCD having seen Burdon’s opener cancelled out before half-time.
“The play-offs are normally done and dusted with three or four games to go but it’s still so tight,” said boss Warrilow.
“We’ve got a little bit of a gap and the games are running out but we’ve got to carry on and finish as strong as we can.
“VCD are a decent side, they popped it about in the first half and we were chasing them a little bit.
“We came in at half-time, changed the shape and we were very good in the second half, with and without the ball.
“We played a different shape and everyone seemed to find their jobs easier. It’s one of those games you’re dreading because it’s a difficult place to go and we’re delighted to get the points.
“We’re not stupid, we know we’ve not been playing well lately, even though we’ve only lost one in 11.
“The performances haven’t been good enough for the standards we set but we were back on it in the second half and hopefully that breeds confidence and the players will relax a bit more.
“The last four or five games, the team’s not been doing what they should be doing.
“We’ve been playing as individuals and not as a team.
“That’s an easy thing to sort out when all’s going well but we’ve had to find out what the problem is and hopefully Saturday was the start of that.
“That second half on Saturday, we went long, we went short, we played nice stuff, we played the ugly stuff when we had to. We did what you’ve got to do to get out of this league.”
Burdon once again showed his importance to Ashford coming off the bench after Ossai was stretchered off.
Warrilow could have gone like for like after Ossai’s injury curse struck again but decided to introduce a forward.
“It would have been quite easy to put a defender on for a defender but we thought Luke’s energy would help us,” said Warrilow. “I’ve got a lot of time for him.
“He’s a bit raw and before he scored he was trying a lot of things and giving the ball away but you don’t want to knock all that out of his game.
“You want that happy-medium where he knows when to keep hold of the ball and bring others into play and when to try his flicks and tricks.
“One thing you could never query is his commitment.
“He works so hard and causes problems and he sees pictures in his head. We just need to slow him down a bit sometimes.”
It was clear what it meant to Lockyer when he scored Ashford’s third.
He’s been so fired up, Warrilow’s had to tell him to relax.
“We’ve had to try and calm him down a little bit,” he said.
“He’s one of those lads who tries so hard and sometimes the harder you try, the worse it gets and you get more wound up, but he’s done so well for us.”
■ Tom Scorer’s early goal gave Kennington a 1-0 win over Erith Town and saw them move five points clear of the Dockers in sixth place in Southern Counties East. Ton take on Rusthall at Homelands this Saturday.