Manager Tommy Warrilow says there will be no blame culture at Ashford United.

Warrilow’s men missed out on a point at Sevenoaks on Saturday after a mix-up between goalkeeper Jacob Russell and full-back Bradley Simms led to a late winner.

The Kent derby finished 2-1 to the hosts as Ashford dropped out of the Isthmian South East play-off places on goal difference.

It was a frustrating finish for the visitors but Warrilow has thrown his weight behind Russell and Simms.

“I wouldn’t swap those two for anyone in our league,” he said.

“There’s no blame culture at our club. We say what we say after a game and then it’s done.

“Mistakes happen at every level of football. They didn’t mean to make a mistake. It happens. It’s done. We’ve got to get on with it.

“I’m certainly not going to hang them out to dry - nowhere near it.

“I’ve made a few mistakes this season. That’s life. They’ll be in the side at Whitehawk on Saturday and we’ll crack on and try and get a result there.

“The main thing is you learn from mistakes.

“I’m not trying to be Superman here or anything, but people can vent their frustration at me.

“That’s fine but the players don’t deserve it because I thought we played well at Sevenoaks.

“We more than deserved a point but it wasn’t to be.”

Ashford could only name four substitutes following the departures of Toby Ajala, Mikey Dalton, Jarred Trespaderne and Mamadou Diallo days before the game.

Attempts to add to his squad proved fruitless but Warrilow is aiming to get some deals over the line this week.

“We’re short in midfield,” he said on Tuesday. “I’m hoping to get one in, maybe two.

“There’s enough players out there but I won’t sign people for the sake of it. If we can’t get anyone in, we’ll prepare for Saturday with what we’ve got. If we’ve only got four subs, that’s fine.

“It’s been one of those seasons where we’ve had to get a lot of players in, through injuries and people leaving.

“We find ourselves in that position again but we’ve got to get on with it.”

Whitehawk occupy the final play-off place, thanks to a marginally better goal difference than Ashford.

The sides drew 1-1 at Homelands in November and another close game is expected this time around.

“They’ve been similar to us in that they’ve been coughing and spluttering their way through the season,” said Warrilow.

“They were my favourites to win the league at the start of the season, so we know what we’re up against.

“No one’s really found that consistency in the league this season.

“If you speak to all the managers, they’ll all say you have your bad patches.

“We started the season well in terms of picking up points, without playing well, and recently we’ve lost a few games.

“With the points we’ve dropped there should be a massive gap but there’s still all to

play for and we’ve all got to play each other again.

“We’re still in control of our own destiny and that’s the way you want it to be.

“There’s positives to take from last weekend.

“We’ll try to build on the things we did well at Sevenoaks and tidy up on a few bits at training.

“Whitehawk is a difficult place to go but hopefully we can pick up a result.”