by Kevin Redsull

Ashford manager Steve Lovell says he always tries to draw
positives from negatives - and he had plenty of scope to do that after his side’s horrendous 7-0 opening day defeat at Croydon Athletic.

In what Lovell described as "just one of those days that started badly and got worse," the Nuts and Bolts were ripped apart by a Croydon side who were inspired by five-goal striker Gary Noel in the Ryman League, Division 1 South encounter on Saturday.

Former Wales international Lovell (pictured) had never previously been on the wrong end of a seven-goal hammering either as a player or manager but as the dust settled this week, he said: "I am a person who always tries to turn negatives into positives and after Saturday’s game I had a word with a few of the players individually to tell them what they had done wrong.

"Now, if I get a positive reaction from them in our next couple of games, then something good will have come out of the game."

He added: "Croydon were the better side and deserved to win but not by 7-0. They scored a couple of late goals when we were down down to nine men because of injuries, one of their goals was a penalty, two of them could have been avoided and two were bad decisions by the referee."

After Ryan Norman (thigh) had gone off at half-time, Mitchell Sherwood and Dan Scorer were both forced to leave the field in the closing stages with ankle injuries. Lovell had already used his three substitutes and so Ashford finished the game with nine players.

But Lovell is refusing to be downbeat and said ahead of Wednesday's game with Merstham: "We have got two home games now which gives us the chance to bounce back."

On Saturday, Ashford are at home to Godalming Town.