Ashford boss Kevin Watson sees an opportunity to get Danny Parish back to his best.

Striker Parish has scored in both of United’s pre-season friendlies so far and is a player Watson is excited to work with.

A prolific frontman in his first spell at Homelands, the Nuts & Bolts know an in-form Parish would be a major asset in Isthmian South East.

Now 24, he briefly worked with new Ashford assistant boss Adam Flanagan at Concord earlier in his career.

“He’s one of the players we wanted to retain,” said Watson.

“Danny had some success at quite a young age in terms of scoring lots of goals and doing well.

“By his own admission, last season wasn’t as good as he would have liked, both for him and the team, but he’s had a really good attitude in pre-season.

“Part of the thing we do is to try and develop players, so we’ll work with Danny and try and work on the aspects that will bring back that success and hopefully improve him.

“There’s more to him than goals, absolutely.

“He’s very intelligent, he’s quite tenacious as well because obviously he’s not a conventional big forward targetman, so his runs are very clever, and his finishing’s good.

“We’re looking forward to working with him more.

“What we really like about Danny is he absorbs information. I’ve noticed already his eagerness and keenness to learn and improve, which is really good from a management perspective.”

Parish was among the scorers in a 4-0 win at Whitstable on Tuesday last week and struck again in a 3-1 defeat at Chatham on Saturday.

Another player to feature in both games was under-18 forward Stanley Oldfield.

Watson had heard good things about the teenager and was keen to get him involved.

He said: “When I came in we asked the question about some of the younger lads that have been involved with the club and his name came up.

“He’s not been able to train with us yet because of the location we’re training at while the pitch is being done.

“He’s at an age where he’s reliant on parental support but his mum’s got him to the two games so far and I think he’s done really well.

“He’s played about half an hour in each of the games and worked really hard.

“I think he’s a good size and he’s somebody we want to keep around at the moment and give him some more game time.

“He’s a really nice, humble lad and it’s right for him to be involved in that environment and the sort of climate we try to create for a young player like Stanley.

“I think it’s quite a welcoming, accommodating environment in our changing room, so I’m pleased for him.

“A lot of clubs have that aspiration to bring young players through and it’s just being able to provide that opportunity.

“Pre-season’s the perfect time to do that. We’ll look to involve him as much as possible.”

This Saturday’s friendly against tenants Kennington has been called off due the ongoing 3G pitch works at Homelands.

Instead, the Nuts & Bolts are off to Isthmian North side Brentwood.

Ashford will also have to move or cancel their scheduled friendly against Folkestone on August 5 after being included in the FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round draw on the same date.

They’ll travel to Southern Counties East side Hollands & Blair, with the winners hosting Beckenham a fortnight later.

The Nuts & Bolts’ ninth-placed finish last season wasn’t enough to send them straight into the Preliminary Round.

Watson said: “Our schedule, we’d planned for the first competitive game to be on August 12 in the league.

“We weren’t aware what stage of the FA Cup we’d come in, so it means some slight alterations to the schedule, but that’s fine.

“We know what we’re working towards now.”