Ashford United are hoping to extend Barry Fuller’s loan spell at Homelands.

The right-back has been a revelation since joining his hometown club from National League South side Dorking.

He scored his second Nuts & Bolts goal in a 1-1 draw with AFC Croydon on Tuesday night and is due to play the final match of his initial 28-day loan when Herne Bay visit Homelands this Saturday (3pm).

Ashford boss Danny Kedwell is desperate to keep his former Gillingham team-mate on board.

“It’s his last game on Saturday so we’ve got to sort that out,” said Kedwell.

“I hope he can stay, I really do.

“He’s been quality. We just look a different team with Barry in there.

“We’ve got to put the call in to Dorking and see what’s happening.”

Fuller scored the winner for Ashford on his home debut against Littlehampton, the first of four successive league wins, before William Duprey was harshly sent off early in a 2-0 defeat at Merstham on Saturday.

And he opened the scoring against AFC Croydon, despite nursing a knee injury, but the visitors scored a late equaliser with Ashford out on their feet after a relentless run of Saturday-Tuesday games.

“I don’t know if he’s ever scored two in a season before,” said Kedwell.

“It’s come from a set-piece where Gary Lockyer has flicked it on, Preston (Kedwell) has given it a dummy and Barry’s there for a poacher’s goal.

“It was more like a forward’s finish.

“He was struggling with his knee after 10 minutes but he’s old-school, Barry, he’s a warrior.

“All the games we’ve played have taken their toll on the boys, and playing for 75 minutes with 10 men on Saturday - you could see that on Tuesday.

“We lost Craig Stone in the warm-up to a calf injury, and with James Dunne suspended, that’s your experience gone.

“But I’m so proud of the boys after what they’ve gone through, playing Saturday-Tuesday for the last seven weeks. It’s been tough. We haven’t got 18, 19, 20 players that we can rotate.

“A lot of the boys have played every game and at the end on Tuesday they looked physically and mentally knackered.

“You could see it in their faces - they were drained.”

Kedwell has cancelled training tonight (Thursday), with the players in need of a rest before facing a Herne Bay side who have won back-to-back games.

Ashford are 11th in Isthmian South East, with 24 points, having caught up on league fixtures in recent weeks.

“I think we deserve more points, based on the performances, but that’s football,” said Kedwell.

“We’ve gone to places and been the better team by miles but lost, but then on Tuesday night we weren’t the better team and we got a point.

“First and foremost, I’ve got to try and manage the boys to get them back to 100% fitness because we’ve been strapping up a lot of them to play.

“I’ve given them Thursday off training. They’ve got to rest.”

Key midfielder Dunne returns from suspension against Herne Bay but Stone is out, as is left-back Joey Taylor, who was set for an MRI scan on his knee.

Kedwell played for Herne Bay in the early 2000s, forming a deadly partnership with Dave Masters as Jason Lillis’ side finished runners-up in the Kent League.

“Herne Bay is basically where I started getting noticed,” said Kedwell.

“I think I got top scorer with 28 goals and got my move to Welling. I had a really good season.

“It was the first time I’d stayed at one club for the whole season. Before that, I’d moved from pillar to post.”