Jason Whitmore will make his players apologise to the Ashford United fans for the way they performed against Herne Bay in midweek.

Whitmore has given his squad two games to prove themselves after suffering two more defeats this week which saw them cast six points adrift towards the foot of Bostik South.

Ashford lost 3-1 at home to Hastings on Saturday before Herne Bay won 5-3 at Homelands on Tuesday night.

Whitmore warned: “If you can’t do the basics right at this level, we will put the personnel in there that will do.

“Now there’s nowhere to hide and no player can say they haven’t got a team. We’ve got senior players that have played at this level and beyond so now they are being judged.

“Hastings and Herne Bay was the start of me and (assistant) Paul Barnes changing everything and at the moment, we’ve been let down by individual errors.

“We’re not talking about teams playing us off the park to get five goals. In key areas, we’ve made the wrong decisions and you can’t do that.

“I’m upset and I’ll make the players apologise to the fans. They let us down because of individual errors and schoolboy stuff.

“Even the Herne Bay directors said ‘if you’re going to give us goals like that, you’ve got no chance of winning the game’ and that’s true.”

Ashford have gone 11 league games without a win, picking up just two of a possible 33 points on a barren run stretching back to September.

They’re just a point above bottom side Shoreham, who have two games in hand, while the gap is widening to the teams above.

So is Whitmore worried? “Not at the moment,” he said. “It’s a work in progress. We have more players to come in and I’ve brought Paul in, who I’m happy with.

“We will stay in this league and we have a budget to make sure that happens. Paul’s been offered 15 players this week so it’s about finding the balance.

“I’ve increased our budget but some of the players at the moment are not doing it.

“They’ve got two games to sort themselves out because we will not mess about in making sure we have a team that’s willing to commit and wear that shirt with pride.”

Ashford visit second-placed Corinthian Casuals on Saturday and from now on they’ll be without the club’s record scorer Stuart Zanone.

Whitmore said: “Stuart is no longer involved with the club. That’s his decision and I wish him well.

“But you’ve got to be willing to fight for your shirt and not expect to turn up and wear it no matter how you play.”