Hawks boss Doswell: Failure to go up will cost some of the players another year here

Some of the Hawks players who suffered National League South play-off semi-final heartbreak have played their last game for the club.
Jonah Ayunga puts Hawks ahead against Dartford. Photo by Dave HainesJonah Ayunga puts Hawks ahead against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines
Jonah Ayunga puts Hawks ahead against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines

Boss Paul Doswell reflected on his side’s loss to Dartford and admitted there will be changes by the time the 2020/21 league season starts, probably in late September.

And he knows trying to improve Hawks’ Westleigh Park record is towards the top of his list of priorities.

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Doswell has to analyse why his squad were able to go the entire away league season without losing - the only club in the top six tiers to do so - but at the same time only manage eight home wins in 17 matches.

Jonah Ayunga celebrates his goal against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines.Jonah Ayunga celebrates his goal against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines.
Jonah Ayunga celebrates his goal against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines.

Hawks won only four of their home league Saturday matches - against Concord last October, Bath and Chippenham in November and Hampton & Richmond in March.

They lost five times at Westleigh Park to Braintree, Hemel Hempstead, Maidstone, Wealdstone and St Albans.

Two of those teams - Braintree and St Albans - finished in the bottom four.

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Hawks were also beaten at home by divisional rivals Dulwich in the final qualifying round of the FA Cup, and suffered a seventh home loss of 2019/20 at the weekend.

Jonah Ayunga celebrates scoring against Dartford. Photo by Dave HainesJonah Ayunga celebrates scoring against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines
Jonah Ayunga celebrates scoring against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines

Doswell was in the mood for home truths after watching Dartford come from behind to end his dreams of returning Hawks to the top table of non-league football at the first attempt.

‘Where they (the players) will be disappointed is we’ve really looked after them well this season, but you can’t lose the games at home we have - that’s a fact,’ he stated.

‘What they have done has probably cost some of them another year here, because this is a fantastic football club to be part of and there’s players here who, over the course of the season, haven’t produced what I wanted them to.

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‘Away from home we’re the only unbeaten team in the top six divisions. That shows something, character. But at home we’ve never looked right and that’s something I have to fix for next season.

What have I done! Josh Taylor walks off after being shown the red card against Dartford. Photo by Dave HainesWhat have I done! Josh Taylor walks off after being shown the red card against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines
What have I done! Josh Taylor walks off after being shown the red card against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines

‘Perhaps they concentrated more away, perhaps they were a bit too relaxed at home ...

‘We’ve lost five at home in the league, we lost to Dulwich in the FA Cup here, and we’ve lost again today.

‘We’ve won all our home midweek games but the Saturday ones have been a nightmare.

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‘Ultimately we would easily have won this league if we hadn’t lost so often at home.

Jonah Ayunga fires in a shot against Dartford. Photo by Dave HainesJonah Ayunga fires in a shot against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines
Jonah Ayunga fires in a shot against Dartford. Photo by Dave Haines

‘We’ve missed good chances and given away cheap goals, and it’s happened again today.’

One thing will be different at Westleigh Park when 2020/21 starts - there will be a £500,000 3G pitch. The grass one, used for the last time against Dartford, is set to be ripped up at the start of next week.

Nobody will be able to use the excuse of a pitch cutting up badly anymore as a reason for poor home performances and results.

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Asked what he took from 2019/20, Doswell gave a one-word answer: ‘Failure.

‘We failed against Dulwich in the FA Cup and we’ve failed to get out of this league, and we wanted to go up,’ he explained.

‘I’ve got a three-year contract and in those three years I have to get us out of this league into the National League, and I thought I could do it in year one - despite putting a brand new team together, despite the six injuries we had which lasted most of the season, but ultimately it hasn’t happened.

‘For me that’s failure - it’s been a failure on the staff’s part, the players’ part.

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‘What you have to do is look at things clearly - there’s no point making decisions when you’re angry - you have to re-look at it and make sure you come back next season, which won’t be too far away, ready to go and ready to win your home games.’

Doswell continued: ‘I’ve got three chances in my mind, and this has been the first one.

‘This has been the strangest season ever, but I’m not one to look for excuses. Excuses could be we had four and a half months off from playing a competitive game, but you have to look over the whole season and I’m going to keep pinpointing it ...the reason we didn’t win the league was because we lost five games at home and we’ve lost again today.

‘Any team that loses that amount will struggle to win leagues and struggle to win play-offs

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‘You have to take a breath for two or three days. You have to realise that coming into this game there would have been changes anyway ... but that might have speeded up the process with us losing today.

‘I’ve known for a little while there’s one or two components of the team that are not quite right, but ultimately yeah, there will be changes.’

In a cruel irony, Hawks lost their first play-off game after working tirelessly behind the scenes for many weeks.

First, they did more than any club to actually change the National League’s mind regarding the fact the play-offs should take place.

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They enlisted the help of local MP Alan Mak to discover that there were no government barriers to the knockout stages being held.

Then there were untold hours put in to draw up covid-safe protocols for the play-offs, and the same in ensuring Westleigh Park could stage Saturday’s match.

It has cost Hawks around £25,000 to compete in the play-offs, including wages after bringing the players back off furlough.

They will receive just £4,000 from the £200,000 the National League were given by the Premier League to help the play-offs took place.

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The majority of that cash will go towards hiring out Wembley for the National League play-off final next weekend.

‘The people at this club have done a brilliant job getting the game on, all the testing, the hand sanitisers,’ said Doswell.

‘I can give you about eight people here who have worked their socks off for six weeks, including myself.

‘We prepared the players correctly, all the set pieces were right, but at the end of the day it comes down to the players.

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‘And the players at home, over the whole season, have not performed.’

Doswell knows next season won’t be easy either in terms of trying to guide Hawks back to the top tier of non-league football.

The likes of Bath City, Slough and Dorking - who have also lost in the play-offs - will be eager to go again. And one of Weymouth and Dartford will obviously still be in the South division.

In addition, Ebbsfleet will be desperate to regain their National League place at the first time of asking under new boss Dennis Kutrieb.

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The 40-year-old led Tennis Borussia Berlin to the top of the fifth tier of German football before the season was halted due to the pandemic.

‘I have been impressed with this season’s division, the quality of the opposition has been good,’ summed up Doswell.

‘It’s not an easy league to get out of, and next season Ebbsfleet will be back and they have big financial backing.’