Kingstonian boss Alan Dowson thanked striker Ryan Moss for proving him wrong to put his side back on course for a top five Ryman Premier League finish.

The 26-year-old, who slotted home a second half penalty in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with AFC Hornchurch, came off the bench to add a brace to Josh Casey’s opener in Tuesday’s 3-0 win at Bury Town.

Dowson had left Moss - deployed as a lone striker in recent weeks - out of the starting line-up to give the 23-goal former Hampton & Richmond Borough frontman a rest.

“Ryan has been magnificent for us recently in helping turn our form around,” said the manager.

“He didn’t agree with the decision to leave him out on Tuesday, but he reacted in the best possible way and that’s what you want to see.

"We changed the formation to tighten things up. It was a case of just getting a result from somewhere to bring that confidence back.

"Now it has I hope we can kick on."

Dowson, who takes his men to Lewes on Saturday, has signed Daniel Pappoe, Adam Brice, Steve Laidler and Andre Da Costa in recent weeks.
 

And the manager, whose team are now level on points with fifth-placed AFC Hornchurch, is pleased with the impact the new arrivals have had on the rest of the squad.
 

“We’d given the players  a talking to, we’d trained them harder and we’d treated them carefully, but nothing else had worked to turn things around ,” he added.
 

“But the squad has responded to the new players coming in and we are looking to bring in more – in particular another striker.”