From the Manager

Paul Doswell was pleased with the point against Slough Town yesterday as the Hawks continued their impressive away form in The National League South. 

The Hawks join an exclusive club with only Liverpool a part off as teams in the top six tiers to have not lost an away game all season in the league.

A point at Arbour Park in tough conditions is a tonic the gaffer believes is just about right to begin the kick towards the line.

He said: “I thought it was an excellent game played between two very good sides in very difficult conditions, with the wind and rain having a massive part to play, which is why we saw two different halves of football.

“In the first half Slough put us under some pressure and I thought second half we did the same.

“It was a fair result between two good sides, evenly matched at the moment, and nothing between us.”

With the wind caused by storm Dennis playing a key role in the game, attacking the favoured end in the second period proved vital for the Hawks.

“It was huge.” Said Doswell. “Anyone who was at the game saw the difference it made in the first half, I think we all knew that, we knew we had to defend in that first half.

“It was just so disappointing to concede a goal literally 30 seconds before half time, because if we had gone in 0-0 that was set up, the game plan was to come in 0-0 and that was the chance to win the game.

“There was great commitment from both sets of players, which lead to a great game of football considering the conditions, and they’re a very good side with tactical experience, been together for three years now, good management team, and it’s a good point at their home ground.”

With a point in the hand against the side which boasts the leagues second best home record, Doswell wants to use that as a building block to begin that push towards the end of the season.

“I’ve been saying for a few weeks now that the away form has been nothing less than sensational, to not to lose the game come the end of February is a great testament to players and their character.

“We’ve often been behind away from home as well and managed to come back to win games and draw games.

“Again, you look at Liverpool yesterday and we’re still the only two sides who have been unbeaten in the league away from home which is some achievement.”

With some fantastic form on the road, and picking up four points from our last two home league games, he now is targeting to kick on at Westleigh from next Saturday against St.Albans.

“I think what you’ve got to look at is if we beat St.Albans and beat Slough and you look at the Concord point away from home and the Slough point away from home and they turn into excellent points which gives us those magical four points we keep talking about.

“We have to win our home games there’s no doubt about that if we are going to put any pressure at all onto Wealdstone, we’ll have to win pretty much every home match between now and the end of the season – which we’re capable of doing and something we’re going to have to do if we’re going to put them under more pressure.

“At the moment we need to concentrate on making sure we get into those play-offs and once you’re in them try and finish as high as you can to get that big advantage in the play-off semi-final and final.”

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