Doswell: Hawks v Dartford in the play-offs is a flip of the coin game

The winners of tomorrow’s Westleigh Park showdown (3pm) will be just 90 minutes away from promotion to the top tier of non-league football.

Hawks are bidding for an instant return to the National League - indeed, they are looking to win promotion for the third time in four seasons.

Promotion is worth around £80,000 in terms of increased handouts from the Premier League’s ‘solidarity’ pot and extra tv revenue.

That’s before the kudos of dining at the top table of non-league football is factored in and the likelihood of bigger attendances.

Dartford booked their trip to Westleigh Park with a 3-0 win at Slough last Sunday - their 15th league win in 23 matches since Steve King took over last October.

Charlie Sheringham - son of Teddy - scored twice and sub Luke Wanadio grabbed a late third after a goalless first 45 minutes.

Doswell watched the game via the league’s streaming service

‘It was a very poor first half,’ he said. ‘The way Slough play can make it look fairly ugly.

‘The first goal is always crucial, and if Slough had got it they would have been tough to break down

‘In the second half Dartford played them off the park. Slough’s fitness levels blew up.

‘They were fine in the first half but in the end Dartford had the ability to find the space and pick the gaps.

‘It could have been four or five in the end.

‘It was the perfect away performance by Dartford.’

King deployed a three-man strikeforce at Slough and is expected to do the same again this weekend.

Sheringham was the central striker with 16-goal pair Darren McQueen and Elliott Romain either side of him.

King is likely to deploy a 4-4-3 formation, while Doswell favours a 4-4-2 system.

Ex-Pompey man Sam Magri and Craig Robson could be given the task of shoring up the centre of Hawks’ defence, with Anthony Straker at left back and ex-Horndean youngster Benny Read on the right.

‘I’ve known Kingy for years, his teams always play an attractive style of football - he’s always had quick, pacy strikers,’ said the Hawks boss.

‘He’ll be looking at his front three and looking at our back four and thinking his will have a field day.

‘I know people have said our back four aren’t the quickest.

‘Wealdstone did it to us - they came here and we weren’t correctly concentrating and we got undone by pace.

‘I am sure a lot of Dartford’s tactics will be based around trying to use their pace.’

Hawks’ home record in 2019/20 arguably cost them the chance of winning the title.

While they were unbeaten away from home, they only won eight out of 17 league fixtures at Westleigh Park.

The virtual non-stop rain from early November through to March saw the Westleigh Park pitch cut up badly.

Doswell believes it ended up having a negative impact mentally on his players.

As we approach August, that is no longer an issue and he said: ‘Our pitch is in excellent condition, and that will suit us.

‘Mid-season is started to cut up and we had to go more direct, and we were successful in playing that way too.

‘But ideally we like to mix it up.’

Doswell doesn’t believe the fact Dartford played a competitive game last week will favour the visitors in any way.

‘Have they got an advantage having played last week? You can look at it two ways,’ he explained.

‘They could be sharper, or they could be a bit leggy.

‘I do know we looked very sharp in training on Wednesday, the sharpest we’ve looked so far, and I know we will be miles fitter than Slough were.

‘The likes of Josh Taylor and Wes Fogden will run all day.

‘Home advantage has gone as there’s no fans, and I don’t think the fact they played last week is an advantage for them.

‘It’s too close to call, it’s a flip of the coin game.

‘It would have been a good final. I think whoever wins on Saturday will be favourites to go up.

‘It’s like a boxing match. They have some attributes that we haven’t got, and we have attributes they haven’t got.

‘It’s all about which players turn up on the day.

‘We will respect them, but they will find we are an experienced team - a fit, experienced team.’

Doswell can select from a fully fit squad, and can name six subs - five of which can be used.

Striker Roarie Deacon has fully recovered from the injury which limited him to just one appearance since the end of September. But it would be a huge gamble to start him in a game of this magnitude.

‘I have had my starting XI in mind now since we knew the play-offs were taking place,’ Doswell said.

‘Nothing has changed my mind. I won’t pick a team based on who we are playing, it’s all about us.’

Publicly, he remains philosophical regarding Hawks’ promotion bid.

‘If we don’t go up we’ve still finished second, we’ve still had a good season,’ he outlined.

‘We were the only unbeaten team away from home in the top six divisions, with a completely new team, and we suffered six horrendous injuries.

‘The players deserve the chance to play for promotion - that’s the biggest thing for me.

‘A few weeks ago there was no chance after the league said play-offs couldn’t take place, but now we have a chance.’

If it wasn’t for the Hawks, there is a good chance the play-offs might not have taken place.

Initially, the National League said they could not be held following advice from the government regarding the return of elite sport.

A furious Hawks instantly enlisted the help of local MP Alan Mak, and he quickly found out from Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston there were no barriers preventing the sixth tier play-offs from going ahead.

A cruel irony would be if Hawks - having done so much work off the field to ensure the play-offs took place - failed to go up.

The winners of the Westleigh Park clash will face Weymouth or Dorking in next Saturday’s final.

The game will be played at the club which finished highest in the South table.