Boss Paul Doswell reveals key meeting that could be a catalyst for stunning late-season Hawks play-off push

The Westleigh Park boss saw his side claim a much-needed (and that is putting it mildly) 4-2 home National League South win over Ebbsfleet at the weekend.

It was Hawks’ first home league win for 131 days and their first league success in 68 days.

Failure to have won would have seen Hawks equal a club record of 10 league games without a win.

It would also have been the longest winless league run in Doswell’s managerial career in the sixth tier.

For the second game running, four recent signings all started - midfielder Alfie Whittingham, winger Sam Smart and strikers Manny Duku and Stefan Payne.

And Doswell said the decision to make so many mid-season changes was critical in attempting to halt the second worst run in near Hawks’ 24-year history.

A period of soul-searching was required in the lead up to the mini-signing spree.

‘I reflected on myself as a manager and the biggest thing was that I needed to start managing Havant as I had managed at Sutton,’ Doswell told The News.

‘If I wasn’t happy with the way things were going at Sutton, I would move players on and bring some new ones in. I did it regularly and I don’t think anyone could say my record at Sutton wasn’t good.

‘I had players here who were fit but out of form and, as a manager, you’re only as good as the players you’ve got.

‘I asked for a meeting with the chairman (Derek Pope) and the CEO (Stuart Munro), just the three of us. I said what I would like to do and they both told me to crack on.

‘If the chairman and CEO hadn’t backed me, it would have shown me where I was at.

‘I told them it could still take three or four weeks to bed the new players in, but they didn’t listen to any of the white noise, they both 100 per cent backed me.

‘We are still working within the budget set last summer. That’s why James Roberts has gone to Hampton (on loan), why Alex Wall is going to Farnborough (on loan), that’s why Theo Widdington joined King’s Lynn, that’s why Abdulai Baggie left for Salisbury.’

Unsurprisingly, given the modern world we live in, Hawks’ long winless run had seen calls on social media for Doswell to leave.

Though he wasn’t an avid reader of the comments on Twitter, he was tagged in at times by some of his loudest critics. As a result, he took himself off the site a few weeks ago.

‘There are people out there on social media who thrive on people’s misery, they absolutely thrive on it,’ he remarked.

‘I enjoyed being on it (Twitter) to a certain extent,’ he said, ‘but there are haters on there who like to make what I call white noise, and the white noise can grow louder.

‘You can see how it can affect some people who are not strong enough mentally.

‘I know I have a chairman and a CEO who understand the game and who understand what’s gone on inside the club this season. They won’t listen to the white noise either. They know at times we’ve struggled to get a team out.

‘It was the same at Sutton. I could have lost 20 games in a row there and I know the chairman would have backed me.

‘Teams that win the league keep the same XI week in, week out. I don’t think I’ve done that at all. It’s been an issue.’

Doswell struggled to name a full squad at times in the weeks leading up to Christmas. And though new players have come in, others remain injured.

‘Tommy Wright’s got a meniscus tear that will need an op, we’ve got to rest him at times,’ explained the manager.

‘Oscar Gobern’s got a broken toe from where he’s stubbed it getting up in the night to go to the toilet; Paul Rooney’s going to need an MRI scan; Leon Baker’s got a broken toe playing for Horndean; Guy Hollis is still a couple of weeks away; Josh Passley’s got a sore knee.

‘And that’s not a bad part of the season!

‘What nearly finished me off mentally … it wasn’t the haters, it was signing Guy Hollis and then seeing him get injured eight minutes into his debut (at Billericay last month).’

Doswell arrived at Westleigh Park in May 2019, shortly after the club were relegated after one season dining at the top table of non-league football. He is contracted to Hawks until the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

‘This is only my third season here and the first two were cut short by the pandemic,’ he recalled.

‘In the first season we were the only team in the top six divisions not to lose an away game. We were three points behind Wealdstone with eight games left, we’d won our last four in a row.

‘In the second we made £150,000 from an FA Cup run and around £75,000 in transfers - Rutherford, Ayunga, Diarra.

‘Back in November we were doing well, we took 1,000 to Charlton (in the FA Cup), everyone was happy.

‘I guess I was due one (a long winless run). Some people have been waiting 1,400 games for me to have one. But I know 13 games isn’t going to define my managerial career.’

He continued: ‘I’m not going to lie, it’s been my most difficult spell as a manager. It hasn’t been easy for me and I guess it hasn’t been easy for the players.

‘It’s been pretty miserable.

‘I know we haven’t been that far away. We battered Dartford in the second half, we battered Concord in the first half - we could have been 4-0 up at Concord before they scored, we missed four open goals.

‘In football, you do need that bit of luck and I don’t feel we’ve had it.

‘We haven’t publicly talked about it, but we do feel the luck has been against us recently. We’ve had three deflected goals against us and about five penalty shouts that looking at the videos were obvious, clear cut.

‘But I know nobody wants to hear that on a Sunday when we’ve been beaten again.’

Amid all the recent arrivals at Hawks, the main surprise was Roberts - one of the main signings last summer - being loaned out to divisional rivals Hampton & Richmond.

He made an instant impact at Westleigh Park, scoring within seven minutes of his league debut against Welling, but had only netted once more - at Tonbridge in early November - in the NLS before joining Hampton.

‘James Roberts is massively part of my plans, he just needs a different environment for a while,’ Doswell confirmed. ‘He will be back with us, he’s not going anywhere.

‘Robbo would have backed himself to score 15 goals this season, even 20. He’s got two.

‘I think Tommy Wright’s got nine, but normally he’d be looking for 20, 25 goals.

‘What do they say about the definition of madness - doing the same things over and over. We were playing the same strikers and they weren’t scoring, so what do you do?

‘We’ve now refreshed the group. Hopefully now it will be the same group for next season, barring a couple.

‘We’ve got a really good mix.’

The win against Ebbsfleet cut the gap between Hawks and the play-offs to seven points, with 14 matches left.

Doswell believes 63 points could see them finish in the top seven - meaning they need 30 points from a maximum 42.

‘I would never not back myself or the squad to get 10 wins from the last 14 games, but I know it’s going to take a hell of a run. Keep winning, that’s all we can do,’ he declared.

To make the play-offs, Hawks will need a repeat of their run-in when they won the NL South title on goal difference four years ago. Back then, Lee Bradbury’s team won 10, drew three and lost just one of their final 14 games.

Whatever happens this term, Doswell knows the 2022/23 National League South campaign will be even tougher.

‘What no-one talks about is that next season the league is going to be even stronger,’ he remarked.

‘There’s probably eight of us who started the season thinking we could go up, but only two will do it.

‘Next season you could also have Dover and Weymouth coming down and Farnborough and Worthing coming up.

‘It would be the strongest the league’s ever been.’