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Hitman Gary Lockyer is still not quite the finished article, according to Ashford manager Tommy Warrilow.
Lockyer enjoyed a remarkable campaign which saw him score 20 goals for Southern Counties East ground tenants Kennington before making the switch to Ashford in November.
He then added 17 goals to his tally for the 2021/22 campaign.
Lockyer almost helped fire Ashford to Isthmian Premier promotion but they fell at the final hurdle as they went down to a 2-0 loss to Herne Bay in the Isthmian South East play-off final on Saturday at Homelands.
But experienced manager Warrilow insisted: “I know it sounds stupid, but we are still working on Gal’s game.
“But he is a great lad and, next year, he’ll bang in 30 goals.
“He came to us pretty late and we are tidying bits of his game up, but I thought he was very good on Saturday. I’m pleased.
“He got a bit of stick on Tuesday [as Ashford beat Cray Valley 1-0 in their play-off semi-final] which is not necessary because he always works his socks off.
“But on Saturday, I thought he brought people into the game well.
“The only thing he will be disappointed with is he didn’t take his chances.
"But he doesn’t need to apologise to anyone for that. It’s just one of those things.”
Warrilow, meanwhile, is still unsure whether experienced frontman Jay May will be retiring this summer.
Speaking straight after their play-off final defeat, he commented: “I don’t know, I’ll have a chat with him. I thought Jay did all right.
“He does what he does. Perhaps, we were a little too far off him at times when we got pushed back.
"It’s Jay’s decision. I’ll have a chat with him.
“But if he says he’s going to play next year, like I’ve said previously, his phone won’t stop ringing because we’ve had him this year and he’s been brilliant.
“We lost him for a little while which was really upsetting.
“If he’s there for that period, I honestly think we hang on to [champions] Hastings a little bit more than what we did. But we lost a massive player for us for nearly two months.
“But he was back on Saturday and I thought he put a shift in.
“We know he is going to blow, of course we do, but him and Frannie [Collin] don’t need to explain their performances to anyone.
“They’ve had great careers, they’re great lads, good players and great in the changing room because we still have a relatively young side if you take Frannie, Friendy [Liam Friend] and Jay out of it.”
