Kevin Watson is unfazed as Ashford’s wait to play at Homelands this season goes on.

The Nuts & Bolts were hoping their new 3G pitch would be ready in time to host Binfield in the FA Trophy First Qualifying Round this Saturday.

But further delays mean they will once again be using Chatham’s Maidstone Road ground, with the tie switched to Sunday (3pm).

“The pitch is taking more time than initially expected but the timelines are down to the availability of the people to do the work,” said Ashford manager Watson.

“Fortunately, we’re blessed with good weather at the moment, which helps.

“There’s huge advantages to playing at home in terms of the fanbase.

“We’ve had a loyal fanbase that have followed us to Chatham and to the away games but we’d like to think the crowd will be bigger when we return to Homelands.

“In terms of the training schedule, that’s been more difficult in the sense we’ll be training at Homelands when the pitch is ready so we’ve had to find adequate facilities elsewhere.

“Not by any stretch of the imagination is the situation an excuse for any poor results or anything like that.

“To be successful, you have to turn up home or away and go to different places and perform.

“Chatham’s a good surface and a good ground, and they’ve been very accommodating, which we thank them for.”

Watson, meanwhile, says there have been no discussions over a return to Ashford for Gary Lockyer.

Last season’s top scorer and player-of-the-year is available after leaving Faversham.

“It’s not had a conversation I’ve had, to be honest,” said Watson, speaking on Tuesday.

“I spoke to him in the summer and obviously he made a decision to leave.

“I’m not sure why things didn’t work out for him at Faversham but it’s not something we’ve discussed.”

That doesn’t mean Watson won’t add to his squad after losing Adem Ramadan to a broken leg last week.

“As a management team, you always keep your eyes open,” he added. “You need to try and stay one step ahead of the game in terms of recruiting players.

“Adem sustained his injury, so we’re one shorter than we were.

“However, we’ve still got adequate numbers for the time being.

“You never dismiss bringing in new people but the circumstances would have to be right for them and us.

“A lot of ducks have to align to bring someone in.”

Ashford lost 2-1 at Sittingbourne in the Kent Senior Cup First Round on Saturday.

Danny Parish gave them the lead but the Brickies scored twice in the last seven minutes.

“We were frustrated because we felt in many aspects of the game, the performance probably deserved a result,” said Watson.

“But we don’t want to be that management team or that group that say we deserved to win because if you don’t win, something has gone wrong.

“It was interesting because I think we had a lapse in concentration or a lack of organisation for probably seven minutes, during which the other team scored two goals.

“When we probably had more control over 80-plus minutes, we’ve only scored once.

“The game served a purpose. We didn’t take it lightly. Neither team did.

“We fielded a strong team and we wanted to progress in the competition so from that aspect we’re disappointed.”