Sky Sports News National League South table glitch briefly strikes fear into Hawks followers - but club see the funny side of on-screen malfunction

But supporters of the Westleigh Park club need not worry following the malfunction in the National League South table statistics which appeared on the popular sports channel.

According to the sixth-tier NLS standings displayed on-screen, Hawks remained ninth in the table, only they were on -1 points - some 49 points worse off than the 48-point total they have accrued so far this term.

The Sky Sports News graphic also showed Paul Doswell's side had played 24 league matches, as opposed to the 34 fixtures they have completed.

But the Hawks media team saw the funny side, joking the fantasy 49-point penalty had been handed to them as a result of the ‘improper signing of facilities manager Gary Pratt’, who was unveiled as a make-believe signing as part of a April Fool's Day gag at the beginning of the month.

A tweet from the Hawks’ official Twitter account read: ‘Looking at @SkySportsNews it seems we’ve been deducted 49 pts for the improper signing of Gary Pratt on April 1st.

A lot of work to do if that’s the case. Still, given the 311 games in hand we have over @maidstoneunited the league may still be in reach.’

Back to serious matters and the Hawks have hauled themselves into serious play-off contention, standing on the same number of points - 48 - as St Albans, who currently occupy seventh position - in the correct NLS table.

They defeated Braintree 4-0 at home on Saturday, with all four strikes coming after the restart, to take them up to ninth in the division, level on points with the two teams immediately above them in the table - eighth-placed Hungerford and St Albans.

While the Sky Sports News NLS table malfunction also gave a false, brief boost to some of the league's title contenders, stating table-toppers had played 335 games this season, as opposed to the just the mere 35 they have completed!