WHILE he is pleased for his winger to be scoring them, Witham Town manager Mark Ashford says it isn't necessarily the spectacular goals that he wants to be seeing from Johnny Ashman.

The Town midfielder hit a wonderful strike that flew into the top corner of the goal to put Witham 1-0 ahead against Barking last weekend in a Bostik League division north game that ended in a 1-1 draw at the Village Glass Stadium.

Ashford was quick to praise the skill of a player who he rates highly to be able to score goals of that calibre, but he wants him and others in the team to be developing their game so they can add to their tallies in different ways.

He said: “I was pleased with Johnny Ashman and I felt he was our most dangerous forward player against Barking.

“Every time he got the ball he was a threat and looked like he would create something.

“We got lots of corners from the work he did and he was our main outlet.

“Every time he got the ball, he looked very bright and he deserved the goal.

“He has it within his ability level to score goals like that and the thing I want from him now is for him to score more goals.

“The thing is, though, that I don’t want him to be relying on the ones outside the box.

“We want him to be getting the tap-ins at the back post as well as the fantastic ones like he got against Barking."

The Town boss said he successfully worked with his own son - Sam Ashford, who secured a move from Witham to Conference South side East Thurrock United earlier this season - in developing his scoring prowess and he now wants others, including Ashman, to benefit.

Ashford pointed to the types of goals scored by Premier League star wingers like Leroy Sané and Sadio Mané and is asking for his players to replicate what they are seeing at the highest level.

He added: "It’s the education of a young player and it’s the same for Toby (Aromoloran) on the other side.

“Two years ago, I did the same thing with Sam (Ashford), who was a winger who created but never scored and now he has gone the other way and is scoring a lot.

“That is the evolution that we have to go through with Johnny and Toby.

“When Toby has the ball down one side, Johnny has to be thinking about scoring goals coming in from the other side and vice versa.

“If you are going to play with real wingers, then they have to add goals to their game.

“You can’t play with wingers who just create because ultimately you will end up with one striker in the box and possibly two if you have a very good attacking midfield player.

“It’s important for wide players to understand that and that’s the same at the highest level – they are expected to score.

“You see (Raheem) Sterling, (Leroy) Sané, (Sadio) Mané, all of these wingers who are playing are all getting tap-ins at the back post.

“They aren’t scoring wonder goals and if you get yourself in the right position you can pick up eight to ten goals a season just from being in those back post positions.

“That’s where we want Toby and Johnny to get to, but they are young players and it’s all part of their education.

“You need to keep working with these players and improving the little things.

“You drill it into them and hopefully it becomes second nature to them."