Ashford United manager Craig Stone on the benefits of a strong home record as the Nuts & Bolts prepare to meet Hastings United

Manager Craig Stone has stressed the importance of Ashford United’s home form this season.

The Nuts & Bolts meet Hastings at Homelands on Saturday (3pm), knowing a strong record on their own patch will mean points on the board and punters through the door.

They finished last season strongly and want to pick up where they left off in front of their home crowd.

The Hastings match, originally a midweek fixture, was brought forward after both teams fell at the first hurdle in the FA Cup.

Stone, whose side opened the Isthmian South East campaign with a 2-0 win at Steyning Town last weekend, said: “The reason we’ve moved it to Saturday is, one, it’s a better day to play, and, two, it will hopefully bring plenty through the gate.

“We’ve had Hastings watched, so we’ll look at their strengths and weaknesses, as we always do, and try and be the best version of ourselves. We want to put on a really good performance in front of our home fans.

“We did really well at the end of last season and because we had good home form, that brought the crowds in and we were averaging over 700.

“We’ll probably have that against Hastings and we want to maintain that.

“How we do that is by winning games, putting on good performances and scoring plenty of goals, like we did last year, and making it a really tough place to come. That’s exactly the process.

“If you win all your home games, it gives you a hell of a chance, doesn’t it? That’s the aim.”

Former Folkestone midfielder Ronnie Dolan is the new man in charge at Hastings, assisted by Sammy Adams, a former team-mate of Stone’s at the Pilot Field.

“I know Ronnie really well,” said Stone. “He’s trained with me a couple of times in the summer, getting fit before he went back to Folkestone, and we’ve