1stjan06

Sunday 01st January 2006

Changes expected to turn around Ashford
EXCLUSIVE

After replacing Dave Wietecha (knee) after 22 minutes of their 2-0 Boxing Day defeat at Hastings United, Sean Glover is expected to start tomorrow's Kent derby against promotion chasing Dover Athletic at The Homelands, writes Stephen McCartney.

The goalkeeper is not the only expected change to the line-up in a game Ashford need to win to claw themselves away from the foot of the Ryman League Division One table.

Adrian Stone, whose returned to the club after scoring just two goals from eight starts for Ryman Premier League outfit Bromley, is expected to start, although striker Shaun Bradshaw is doubtful after not training yesterday due to injury.

Bromley manager George Wakeling had today told www.kentishfootball.co.uk the situation regarding the former Carshalton Athletic striker.

He said: "Adrian has joined Ashford to get a few games under his belt and we'll reassess the situation at a later date."

Ashford will hope the striker rekindles his goalscoring form, for a side that have failed to score on 12 occasions this season in all competitions.

The Homelands club, however, will want to put a disastrous year behind them and will be hoping they can get 2006 off to a winning start.

They have won only three league games from 23 outings this season, have scored only 18 league goals, which is the lowest in the entire division, and are level on points (15) with the two sides below them in the table - Newport IOW and Corinthian-Casuals.

Metropolitan Police are the visitors to Homelands next Saturday, and speaking in an EXCLUSIVE interview with www.kentishfootball.co.uk, manager Tim Thorogood knows the task in hand will be tough.

"Two tough games in a row," he admitted. "But we went to Met. Police on the first game of the season and should have got a result.

"But we are at home, these are two big games. We have struggled against the lesser sides to a degree and play well against the good sides so hopefully we might surprise a few."

Thorogood hinted their might be new faces on show against the Whites tomorrow, but is waiting for the paperwork to come through before he announces anything.

Morale at Saturday's training session was good, according to Thorogood. He added: "At the end of the day the players know we haven't been playing badly, performances haven't been bad.

"It's a confidence thing and they are upbeat and can turn it around.

"We just need some wins and we need to be a little bit more tougher at the back," he added. "We need to be more cutting up front as well. Overall we need to start getting results really."

Ashford Town v Dover Athletic
Ryman League Division One
Monday 2nd January 2006
Kick Off 3:00pm
at The Homelands, Ashford Road, Kingsnorth, Ashford