Gary Lockyer is staying at Ashford United after agreeing a two-year deal with his hometown club.

Lockyer has scored 27 goals for the Nuts & Bolts this season and last month was handed the captaincy by manager Lloyd Hume.

The prolific striker is closing in on the club’s all-time goalscoring record and will be a key man in next year’s Isthmian South East promotion bid.

“We want Gary to finish his career here and so does he,” said Hume.

“We love him and we’re delighted he’s staying.

“He wants to be the record goalscorer and the record appearance-maker, which I’m delighted about.

“Since we made him captain, his attitude has been absolutely outstanding around the club.

“He’s curbed his discipline and been a real positive influence.

“I want that to continue and if it does continue Gary will be our club captain again next year.

“If it doesn’t continue, he’ll still be our player for the next couple of years.

“Any manager that doesn’t want a player that scores 30 goals a season would be mad, in my opinion, and I’d be mad to even consider not having Gary Lockyer in my team.

“I do want competition, not to replace him but to play with him up top because I genuinely believe we can play with two No.9s at this level. That’s our plan.”

Ashford have also agreed a deal in principle with on-loan midfielder Michael West to sign permanent terms when his Whitstable contract expires at the end of the season.

The Nuts & Bolts extended their unbeaten run to five games with a 1-1 draw at Three Bridges last weekend.

Kane Penn gave the visitors a half-time lead but they allowed their opponents, who finished with 10 men, back in the game.

Hume said: “We dominated so much in the first half with the wind behind us that it seemed implausible we only went in 1-0 up.

“We should be a minimum of two or three up and the game’s done.

“At half-time the instruction was very clear on how you need to change tack in those types of conditions to win a game of football.

“Game management was all we talked about but we went out and fell into exactly the same trap they did, which I found very frustrating.

“They’ve been on a good run but would I have taken a draw before the game? The honest answer is no.

“With the side we put out, on paper, we should beat anyone at our level, bar perhaps the two, and we didn’t so I don’t accept I should be happy with a point because I’m not.

“What we’ve got to work on is game management, slowing it down when we need to, speeding it up when we need to, playing in the right areas and playing the conditions.

“Everything we’re doing is already working on for next season, but we’re working on the things we want to do well next season in live games so we should be winning them.

“We’re five unbeaten now against some of the top teams, so we’ve had a tough run of games, but we should have at least two more points than we’ve got, if not four more.

“That’s the most games we’ve gone unbeaten.

“I’m challenging them that we’ve got four games left and, in my opinion, all games are winnable with the right mentality, and I’m not going to accept anything but that if I’m honest.”

Ashford, in 12th, host bottom side Steyning Town at Homelands this Saturday (3pm).

The Sussex club have had a difficult first season in Step 5, suffering immediate relegation.

The did, however, beat the Nuts & Bolts at home.

“I’m not going to hide from the fact that, under our previous regime, we went to Steyning and got well beaten, one of the only teams that have been beaten there,” said Hume.

“We got beaten by Lancing, we got beaten by Phoenix, so three of the bottom four have beaten us this season.

“We’ve got three of the bottom five in the last four games and I don’t want to lose any of them. That’s a mentality thing.

“When you lose against three of the bottom four, people question why we made decisions, well, that’s why we made decisions, and we can’t be the same. We’ve got to be ruthless and step on them quickly.”