‘Embarrassed’ Hawks boss Doswell suffers remarkable Boxing Day ‘knockout’ in record-breaking Dorking hammering
Doswell, serving the fourth of his six-game touchline ban, was forced to sit in the main stand at Dorking Wanderers to watch his side humiliated 8-0.
They played all but five minutes with just 10 men after centre half Paul Rooney was sent off for a shove on ex-Hawk Alfie Rutherford.
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Hide AdIt was a similar red card to the one Rooney picked up at Slough in last month’s FA Trophy loss - giving away a foul as the last man.
‘I have to apologise to the travelling support,’ said Doswell after Hawks had recorded the highest loss since being formed in 1998.
‘Massive credit to Dorking Wanderers, they were magnificent and, clearly, we were not good enough.
‘Dorking had that desire to keep coming again and again. They had us on the ropes and they kept punching. In the end they knocked us out.
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Hide Ad‘Our defending was horrific for the first five goals. The game was over at 2-0 with Rooney getting sent off again - that was our game plan messed up.
‘It was a red card, he didn’t go for the ball. The rules say you must go for the ball and he made no attempt to - exactly what happened at Slough. It was his mistake and he’s got to learn.
‘You can say it’s a freak result but it’s left questions of both myself and the squad now.
‘I wouldn’t say I’m angry, I’m just dazed. It’s very hard to process it just 10 minute after the game has finished. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.
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Hide Ad‘For me, I am embarrassed. I would hope the players feel the same.
‘I know saying ‘sorry’ is a cheap word … we have had some good times here and this ranks as one of the lowest.
‘We need to bounce back. Myself and Bairdy (Ian Baird, assistant manager) can’t play, we can only set them up to play the way we ask them to. Hopefully they’ve got a bit of bollocks about them to go out and give a response.
‘The players have to show some responsibility but the buck stops with me.
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Hide Ad‘Hopefully this result won’t define our season, but it will if we don’t get a response.
‘To put it into context, it’s only three points but we need to improve quickly.’
On the plus side for Hawks - and it’s hard to look for them on such a miserable day - Alex Wall made his competitive return at Meadowbank.
The striker came on as a second half sub for Scott Rendell, his first game since suffering an ankle injury against Torquay in the FA Cup in mid-October.
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Hide AdDoswell was able to name a strong bench for the first time in months, with Abdulai Baggie, Billy Clifford, Benny Read and Jamie Collins also on it.
Nicky Bailey missed out due to a calf injury and loanee Leon Chambers-Parillon is still feeling an Achilles problem.