Danny Kedwell went through every possible emotion during his first league game as Ashford United manager.

The Nuts & Bolts trailed Erith Town 2-0 at half-time on Saturday despite dominating their Isthmian South East opener.

It remained that way until the 80th minute when Noah Carney gave them hope of rescuing a point.

Max Walsh levelled in the 89th minute and the turnaround appeared to be complete when Gary Lockyer struck in the fourth minute of added time for a 3-2 lead.

That wasn’t the end of the drama, however, with the newly-promoted Dockers making it 3-3 in the 96th minute.

“It was the craziest 16 minutes ever,” said Kedwell, whose side visit Harrow in the FA Cup preliminary round this Saturday (3pm).

“To be 2-0 down and get it back to 2-2 then go 3-2 up and concede in the last 30 seconds, it was mental.

“It was every emotion - take a draw, buzzing we’re winning and then feeling like we’ve lost.

“I’ve taken the positives out of it because I knew it would be a tough place to go.

“The desire and willingness to get back in the game was there and to go 3-2 up shows they’ve got character.”

Ashford failed to make first-half pressure tell and paid the price as Ollie Milton and Harry Taylor struck for the hosts.

Kedwell had warned his side what could happen against the Southern Counties East champions.

He said: “I was disappointed at half-time because I told them what was going to happen before the game.

“When you get your chances, you’ve got to take them and be ruthless.

“If you don’t, there could be that one chance that they get and they do take and you could be in trouble.

“That’s literally what happened and then they got a second.

“I made two subs at half-time and a couple more after an hour and changed the formation to get us back into it.

“We got ourselves 3-2 up but conceded right at the death.

“It was the only time they got in our box in the second half.”

Kedwell conceded Kola Salami’s late equaliser was in keeping with events on the day.

He added: “There were three or four things that could have happened before they scored.

“We could have dealt with it better but I think with the buzz of being 3-2 up from 2-0 down, the boys weren’t thinking straight.

“Instead of going to the corners or holding the game out, we’re trying to shoot and stuff like that.

“We could have managed it better but I put that down to excitement. It was crazy.

“If the game didn’t end like that, it wouldn’t have been right. That’s how mad it was.

“If we’d gone in the corner, I probably would have been like, ‘What are you doing!?’

“I’m taking the positives but we can’t dominate games like that and not win. You’ve got to punish people.”

Attention turns back to the FA Cup this weekend.

It’s Ashford’s second game in the competition having eased past Egham Town 3-0 a fortnight ago.

Opponents Harrow Borough play in Isthmian South Central - the equivalent level to the Nuts & Bolts.

They beat Ashford (Middx) 1-0 in their league opener despite playing with nine men for most of the second half.

Kedwell said: “It’s a bit weird going cup, league, cup but it’s good to have a cup run, so it’s another exciting game.

“Harrow have done really well to win their first league game, being down to nine men for 43 minutes.

“It’s going to be another tough game.

“We’ve just got to be on it and make sure we start better than we did at Erith.”

Ashford have players who’ve been there and done it in the FA Cup, including summer signing Lee Martin, who helped Ramsgate reach the second round last season.

“A lot of our boys, especially the older ones, have had good cup runs wherever they’ve been,” said Kedwell.

“It’s new to the young ones but we’ve got the experience around them to help them through it.

“Sometimes, when you’re young, it’s like, ‘Bloody hell, I’m playing in the FA Cup’ and it’s a bit mad.

“We’ve got lads like Jack Saunders, Mikey Berry and Marley St Louis who’ve played in the FA Youth Cup and now they’re in the proper thing.

“But they’ve got good heads on them, they listen, they’re very good young players and they’ve got great futures.”