Jason Whitmore has hailed the impact of strikers Andrew Dalhouse and Shomari Barnwell in Ashford United’s recent resurgence.

The Nuts & Bolts are now one of the form sides in Bostik South after putting together a
five-match unbeaten run and winning three on the spin at home.

Barnwell has six goals in his last six games and Dalhouse has scored five in that time. It’s a partnership which has increasingly impressed their manager.

Whitmore said: “I was looking originally at one of them being in the team, with Ira Jackson or Matt Day trying to feed off them with their pace but it’s been working better having both of them in the team.

“They both hold the play up well and then we’re using the width, getting Rohdell Gordon on the ball. If you get Rohdell in those pockets, he’s a class act. He needs to give more end product but his feet are amazing.

“Dalhouse came to us after not playing for a long while. He’s been in non-league for a long time, proved his quality over the years and now, with the fitness and training, we’re starting to see that flourish.

“You don’t get a lot of time in football to turn things around normally but luckily there’s only one team going down this season and that really paved the way for our transition.

"Dalhouse is at the end of his career and Shomari wants to go further forward. Next season Dalhouse will be playing but not every Saturday-Tuesday. He’s not going to be able to do that consistently at the level we want.

“We want another striker who is hopefully going to step up. I’m hoping Matt Day will start to get physically stronger because he has the ability and then start learning from Shomari and Dalhouse in training about using his body and getting himself into games.”

Ashford go to sixth-placed Walton Casuals on Saturday. Whitmore said: “They’re a decent team, they drew 2-2 with Cray Wanderers on Sunday.

“The training and everything we’ve been doing behind the scenes is starting to transpire on the pitch.

"Football’s about confidence as well as ability and when you start to get confidence, suddenly things become a lot easier and decision-making becomes a lot quicker.

“You start doing things naturally rather than over-thinking. We’re starting to see the team gel with confidence.”