Hawks aim for rapid response to Dorking ‘freak’ humiliation against Hemel side with stunning away National League South record

And no, I’m not talking about the Boxing Day humiliation at Dorking Wanderers, though the club record 8-0 hammering was as bad as it sounds.

This stat concerns Hawks’ inability to regularly take the initiative rather than an eye-popping scoreline which shell-shocked boss Paul Doswell correctly declared a ‘freak’ result.

Of course it was a ‘freak’ - the sixth tier of English football isn’t the Wessex League Premier, for example, where Hythe & Dibden and Amesbury have both conceded at least eight goals in three league games this season and Christchurch have twice let in nine.

No, this is a serious semi-professional league, where some clubs are full-time; this was only the third occasion in the history of the National League South, formed in 2004, that an 8-0 thumping had been recorded. And the previous two losers had been ended the season relegated.

Boxing Day was only the third time in their 910-league match history - including play-offs - that Hawks had conceded six goals, let alone eight. And both of those six-goal spankings - 6-0 at St Albans in 2015/16 and 6-2 at AFC Fylde in 2018/19 - were in the two seasons Hawks suffered relegation.

It’s safe to say expectations are different now.

Dorking away was also the first time that Doswell, in a managerial career spanning some 25 years, had seen one of his teams ship that many goals. He had never previously lost a league game with Hawks by more than two goals; here he was, losing by eight.

Like Hawks, the worst league thrashing he had been on the end of was 6-0 - in Hawks’ case, a beating at St Albans in March 2016; in the manager’s case, a pair of maulings against Dover, away in March 2009 (on the day Dover clinched the NL South title) and at home in November 2016 (when Dean Beckwith was sent off after 21 minutes with Sutton already trailing 2-0).

(There was also the time in May 2003 when Doswell’s Eastleigh crashed 6-1 at Andover, Justin Bennett scoring a hat-trick to take his seasonal tally to 43 - yep, the same Justin Bennett who went on to set a new Gosport Borough goals record and who is still a prolific scorer in the Wessex League Division 1 with Bemerton. Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier played for an Eastleigh side that day who had already won the Wessex Premier title. Doswell was sent off in the first half for protesting against a red card shown to Phil Warner).

At Dorking, as was the case just over five years earlier against a Dover side containing current Hawk Sam Magri, Doswell’s side went down to 10 men early on; less than five minutes having elapsed when Paul Rooney was dismissed - quite rightly - for a shove on Alfie Rutherford. He would have been better served just letting the former Hawks striker run clear.

Though Jason Prior converted the resultant penalty, it wasn’t Dorking’s opening goal. No, Rutherford had already provided that in the third minute - left unmarked to loop a header over keeper Will Mannion.

And it was that goal which further contributed to the dismal statistic mentioned in the opening sentence.

For the 10th time in 17 league fixtures this season, Hawks had conceded the opening goal. For the 10th time in 17 games, they were left chasing the game.

It is a depressingly familiar tale; in the pandemic-wrecked 2020/21 campaign, Hawks only managed 14 games. But they still conspired to concede the first goal in nine of them.

Simple maths time: in Hawks’ last 31 league games, they have fallen behind in 19 (61 per cent) of them. Take away the two goalless draws, and Doswell’s side have scored the first goal in just 32 per cent of their last 31 league games. Nowhere near good enough for a side chasing National League football.

There were very few positives for Hawks to take out of their Dorking humiliation. One was that a perennially hectic festive fixture list has provided a quick opportunity to (partially) banish the memories of their Meadowbank Stadium nightmare.

Around 50 hours after the final whistle sounded at Dorking, Hawks will kick off against Hemel Hempstead tomorrow (3pm) in a fixture which has now taken on a lot more importance than it held pre-Christmas. And it held a lot then.

Hawks could do with scoring first against Hemel, that much is a given; they could also do with a win - their Westleigh Park record is in need of huge improvement; more than anything, though, the team need to show some ‘bouncebackability’. In his post-Dorking inquest with the media, Doswell insisted the players needed to show some ‘b*******’ in front of their own supporters. Put simply, and metaphorically placing genitalia to one side, the players need to show they care; they need to show their fans that they, like them, like their manager, were deeply hurt by the Boxing Day massacre.

In terms of a league season, there is always another day, another game, another chance, to right some wrongs. It is in Hawks’ favour, therefore, that they have a very quick chance to put Dorking behind them.

It is not necessarily in their favour, though, that Hemel will arrive at Westleigh Park much fresher. Due to Covid cases in their opponents’ camp, the Hertfordshire club were inactive on Boxing Day while Hawks were rewriting the record books for all the wrong reasons.

And don’t be fooled - don’t be fooled at all - by Hemel’s sixth-from-bottom league position. That is purely down to their home record, where they are one of only two clubs in the top six tiers of English football - Dover are the other - yet to record a home win.

On their travels, Hemel are a completely different beast - as, up to Boxing Day, were Hawks - and are aiming for their sixth successive away NLS victory. As it stands, only Hawks (with six wins) have won more often on the road in the division than the Tudors.

Hemel lifted the curtain on their season by losing their first three away games, but since then have rattled off wins at Billericay (3-2), Chippenham (2-1), Hungerford (1-0), Chelmsford (2-1) and, last time out, Hampton & Richmond (1-0).

Previewing the trip to Dorking, Doswell quite rightly said it was a game between the teams with the best home and away records. ‘Something has to give,’ he told The News. It duly did - his team’s defence. Time and time and time again.

Something needs to give against Hemel as well, but this time in Hawks’ favour. While the Tudors have racked up five away wins on the bounce, Hawks have failed to win any of their last four home league matches. They have drawn with Maidstone and Dulwich and lost to Slough and Bath. Those first two results weren’t bad, given league positions, but the second two certainly were for a team with more than one eye on a top seven finish.

Don’t let the Dorking debacle detract from Doswell’s superb away record since taking over at Hawks. Prior to Boxing Day, he had won 19, drawn seven and lost just five of 31 NLS fixtures. In his last sixth tier season at Sutton, in 2015/16, he won 15, drew four and lost just two of 21 away fixtures.

The home form, though, has to improve if this current Hawks squad want to be considered serious promotion contenders. That means no more conceding two first half goals - as they did against Oxford (2-0 down in 22 minutes), Slough (2-0 down in 18 minutes), Dulwich and Bath.

And taking the lead in a few more matches would also be a huge step in the right direction too …

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Hawks striker Alex Wall, who made his competitive return at Dorking having been out injured since mid-October, played in the very first 8-0 scoreline ever recorded in the National League South.

He struck twice as Maidenhead dished out an 8-0 thumping to Truro City in September 2012. There were mitigating circumstances, though, as the Cornish club had been placed in administration just a few days earlier. Truro would end up relegated in bottom spot, 20 points adrift of safety.

The second 8-0 thrashing was recorded by Ebbsfleet United, who thrashed Bishop’s Stortford in March 2017. Unlike the Dorking v Hawks fixture, though, this was no huge shock - Ebbsfleet were riding high (eventually promoted via the play-offs) while Stortford were relegated having conceded over 100 goals).

The record margin of victory in the National League North is 9-0. First, Boston won by that huge margin at Redditch in August 2010 - the season where Redditch finished rock bottom with just two wins and 30 defeats in 40 matches.

That scoreline was equalled earlier this season when Chorley hammered Gloucester City. Like Hawks at Dorking, the visitors were hampered by an early red - Fabien Robert sent off after 20 minutes with City already trailing 2-0.