Ashford United boss Tommy Warrilow reacts to 4-2 win over Ramsgate in Isthmian South East

Manager Tommy Warrilow believes Ashford played as well as they have done in some time in their victory over Ramsgate on Easter Saturday.

The Nuts & Bolts won 4-2 at Homelands to all but secure a second-placed Isthmian South East finish - which means they will have home advantage in the play-offs.

With two matches of the regular season to go before then, though, the pressure is off Ashford somewhat.

But Warrilow said: “I want to get their consistency going. I thought that’s the best we have played today for a long, long time.

“I know what we have got.

“We have just got to carry on and not drop our standards.”

Ashford do still need another point to be absolutely sure of finishing second - although even without that, it would take a drastic swing in goal difference for them to drop to third.

“We don’t take it for granted but, yes, it’s nice to be second because we know where we are,” the experienced boss commented.

“We might still need to get another point or whatever but, listen, we’ll just do what we do. We had a lot of players back today and two in the stand.

“Last weekend (for a 2-1 win at Lancing), we only had three subs, which shows how much it changes. But we have all put a shift in and Monday we will go again at Faversham, which will be a completely different game.”

A Gary Lockyer brace and Tommie Fagg’s effort put the Nuts & Bolts 3-1 up at half-time against Ramsgate before defender Mamadou Diallo netted a rare goal after the restart.

“I’m really pleased,” reflected Warrilow, who opted to leave Jack Richards and Andrew Sesay out of his squad despite the pair being fit.

“Obviously with Lovs (Steve Lovell) going in down there, we knew it would be a different game to when we first played them (winning 3-2 in January).