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Ashford United’s interim boss Alan Walker hopes the young players drafted into the team for the season finale will be better for the experience.
Saturday’s 5-1 loss at Sheppey was a tough one to take for Walker as he was left disappointed with their performance for the first time since taking over as temporary manager.
The Ites took an early lead and although it was level at the break - following Ian Draycott’s 40th-minute goal - Sheppey hit four in the second half to take the game away from the Nuts & Bolts.
“I was very disappointed in my lads,” Walker said.
“We did well to get back to 1-1, but they weren’t at the races and it’s the first time since I have been here that they have switched off as a team.
“There were a few individuals that were okay, but most had a four out of 10 day.
“It was one of those days and like I said to the lads after the game it’s the first time they have let us down and let’s make it the last.
“The other games we’ve had we won the previous two (against Sevenoaks and Herne Bay) and did very well and they also did well in the other two games we have lost.
“I was really pleased with those performances but the performance at the weekend was not acceptable.
“We let in some absolutely torrid goals, to be fair, the wind caused a few problems for us and we didn’t deal with it like we should have done and I am disappointed in that respect, but that is football.
“We have a tough one on Saturday at home to [play-off chasing] Chichester, they are flying.
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“We are struggling a bit with personnel, we have a lot of young players in and while it’s a fantastic experience for them, what I also don’t want is for their confidence to get knocked by a good hiding somewhere as well and we have to focus on that.
“There are a lot of young players and it will almost be a baptism of fire for some of them. If they are going to make it anywhere near this level if they do get a good hiding they just have to learn from it.
“Arguably, that was the strongest team that we have put out so far on Saturday, that is what disappointed me more than anything, but in certain areas we didn’t perform anywhere near the standards that we have been.”
Promising Gillingham loanee Stan Skipper missed the weekend game with a glute muscle strain and is a doubt for the weekend while Walker is also uncertain over whether his young keeper Chiedoze Nwosu will be fit.
Nwosu played with a hip injury against Sheppey and the manager felt that impeded his goalie.
Walker said: “I think that led to him making a few errors but I have got a lot of time for the young lad, he is 21 and he has done great for us up until Saturday.
“He still did okay and pulled off some great saves but made a few bad decisions probably because of his hip.
“I am hoping he’ll be okay for Saturday, we’ll just have to wait and see, if not we have a 17-18-year-old who will be playing because Chris [Lewington], the original first-team keeper is out with a bad back and we have so many people struggling at the moment.”
