Steve Lovell says Ashford Town’s home form will be pivotal in ensuring they survive in Ryman League Division 1 South this season.

The Nuts and Bolts produced an abject display in their 3-0 defeat at basement boys Whitstable on Saturday.

Town had shown an improvement on the road before the trip to Belmont – picking up draws at Chatham and Burgess Hill – but it is at home where Lovell insists they need to impress.

He said: "We've played just five of our 16 league games at home, and our home form is not too bad.

"Our home form will be important to us now. Our survival and what we achieve depends greatly on our home form."

He said Saturday’s defeat was down to individual errors and hoped the players would learn from them ahead of Saturday’s home clash with Met Police.

He said: "When you give teams goals, then you don’t deserve to win. On Saturday we gave them three goals and that left us needing four."

Nick Smith is suspended for Saturday while Paul Jones, Toby Ashmore and Scott Chalmers-Stevens remain sidelined.