Kentish Express Ashford & District
Warrilow: Give it your all
Ashford manager Tommy Warrilow will ask for more of the same as his side bid to finish the job and win promotion.
The Nuts & Bolts face Herne Bay in the Isthmian South East play-off final at Homelands this Saturday (3pm).
They came through their semifinal against Cray Valley 1-0 on Tuesday night, Jay May with the early winner.
A disciplined, hardworking performance was right up Warrilow’s street and Ashford will give themselves every chance of reaching the Isthmian Premier if they do it all again.
Bay, the form team in the division going into the playoffs, beat Haywards Heath on penalties after a thrilling 3-3 draw at Winch’s Field in the other semi-final.
“I won’t say anything much different to what I said before the semi-final,” said Warrilow, after leading the Nuts & Bolts to the play-off final for the second time.
“Both games, the semi-final
and the final, are must-win games.
“I look around the changing room and they’ve worked so hard for this. These moments don’t come around too often so if you’ve got half a chance of promotion, don’t throw it away.
“Don’t look at if onlys or whatever. A lot of us have had promotion but some players don’t get that opportunity.
“These boys have the chance, it’s not luck, they’ve earned it.
“Go and give it your all in the final and don’t leave anything
out on the pitch.”
Ashford finished two points clear of Herne Bay in second place and did the double over them, winning 2-1 at Homelands and 3-0 at Winch’s Field.
Warrilow is reading nothing into those results going into the promotion decider.
“That means nothing to me,” said the Nuts & Bolts boss.
“We’ll be in training Thursday night, we’ll be walking through shape and doing a few set-pieces.
“If the boys do what I asked before the semi-final again on Saturday, you can’t ask for any more.”
May has yet to decide whether the final will be the last game of his career.
The 35-year-old, who bagged the sixth-minute winner against Cray Valley, has been contemplating retirement.
“I don’t know what he’s going to do yet,” said Warrilow. “I don’t want him here next year anyway, so I’d rather run him into the ground!
“Joking apart, it’s up to Jay. He’s finding it hard, obviously, but if he says he’s playing next year, his phone won’t stop ringing.
“It’s his decision, not ours, but if he does decide to stop, what a way to go out if he could help us win promotion and get this club moving forward in the right direction.”
Warrilow appealed for the people of Ashford to turn out before the semi-final.
With virtually no Cray Valley fans there, a crowd of 753 was respectable.
A big Kent derby in the final should see the attendance well into four figures.
Warrilow said: “I don’t want to get the trumpet out but it’s been a successful period for the club, so we should be getting more fans.
“We had the play-off final three years ago, we were second with eight games to go when the following season was stopped, last year was written off after six games and now we’ve got to the play-off final again, so we’ve done well.
“You get good performances and bad performances - that’s non-league football - but it would be brilliant if we could entice more people to come along.”
Ashford lost 2-1 at home to Whitehawk in the final game of the regular season last Saturday, Tashi Jay-Kwayie with the goal.
James Haylock-Ashdown equalised as fifth-placed Kennington finished the Southern Counties East campaign with a 1-1 draw at Glebe.