But the 1986–87 season wasn't all about promotion. It marked the season when the club would bid farewell to Essella Park as their home after 56 years. The final game on 2 May 1987 was in fact a title decider with Dorchester Town. The 0–0 result meant the Dorset club pipped Ashford to the league title by one point. As noted previously the club had been looking to relocate away from the ground which was in a residential district and hemmed in by houses. Over 15 years they had looked at 17 sites. The directors had now purchased a plot of land for £80,000 a few miles beyond the immediate boundaries of the town in Kingsnorth. The directors felt that this was "not the ideal site" but could find nothing within the Town boundary. The project looked to echo the actions of Ashford United who collapsed in 1907 after they re-located too far from its core supporters. The club anticipated the seventy-acre site would be developed over time, but, at the time of the final fixture at Essella Park, they still awaited planning permission for the new 'Homelands' stadium – and the chairman of the directors was critical of "constant delays" by an "unhelpful" Ashford Council. The club were therefore without a home stadium and agreed a ground-share at neighbours and longtime rivals Folkestone for the next two years.