Ashford United boss Tommy Warrilow has won the BOSTIK South East Manager of the Month award for March – but whilst celebrating, Warrilow will be only too well aware of the “curse” that some say accompanies the award as his side face a South East Kent derby against a Hythe Town side who have fallen away in the Play Off chase.Talking to KSN this week, Warrilow told us, “Obviously when you get that it’s not just about you – it involved everyone who’s wrapped around you as well – OB’s, Sedge, physio Ben – it for all of them as well as we’ve all contributed. We’ve had a good month definitely and I’ve always said the best time to get the award is in March and April because it’s the business busy end of the season.  So, it’s nice to get it this time and put a bit of pressure on ourselves and not look at it as the kiss of death, try to have a really good month of April as well.”

“Clean sheets have been a massive bonus for us – we’re obviously creating a load of chance’s as well which all in all puts us in a good place. That said I don’t believe we’ve believed that even in the games we’ve lost, wave had enough chances to win those games going into a difficult April after a difficult March!”

“With no disrespect to teams who haven’t got anything to play for at this stage of the season, I’d sooner have the fixtures that we’ve got against the sides who are still involved to keep us going especially heading as is likely into the Play Offs. And this weekend we’ve got a local derby when all forms go flying out of the window and pride kicks in.  All these teams mean we’ve got to go and play them with the right mindset to play them and that makes every game even more important as they all effectively now become six pointers.

“When you start the season off, everyone wants the Championship and promotion and have runs in the cups.  But what everyone wants to do is to keep your season alive as looking to keep your seasons alive for as long as possible, so the fans have got something to cheer and the players have to play for, and we’ve got that!  So as far as that goes, we’ve had a good season and the next month can turn it into the excellent one as the Play Offs will come into it.  Everyone’s fit so we’ll take a full squad to Reachfields so no excuses – I can’t ask for anymore.  Going into the Play Off\/Rs I have signed four players on dual registrations gave us the added boost going int the post season.”