Ashford United are about to tackle a run of fixtures which could define the rest of their season.

The Nuts & Bolts host Horsham on Saturday and go to VCD next weekend before games against Kent rivals Sittingbourne and Faversham over the festive period.

Between the derbies, rock-bottom Shoreham come to the Homelands.

Ashford manager Jason Whitmore said: “This will tell me whether the hard work we’ve been doing behind the scenes is going to pay off.

“I think they’re all winnable games. We’ll set ourselves a target of how many points we believe we can get out of these five games.

“That will show progression. That will show a real change. One result is lucky and I don’t want lucky, I want consistency. That’s going to come out of the next five games.”

Whitmore was unhappy with Ashford’s attitude on Saturday as they lost 5-1 away to Bostik South leaders Lewes.

With assistant manager Paul Barnes absent, Whitmore felt the problems started during the

warm-up.

He said: “When I came out and saw how they were applying themselves, I was annoyed.

“The professionalism, which we’re now striving for, was not good enough and that contributed to the performance.

“It’s just not good enough and it was made clear after the game.

“At training this week we’re having individual chats with some players who need to be told a few home truths."

New signing Michael McEntegart is set to make his debut in goal on Saturday, replacing Aaron Lee-Wharton.