Hawks boss Doswell praises side’s ‘character’ after ‘terrific game’ against Hungerford

The Hawks boss was delighted with a 4-2 success against Hungerford that saw them move up to sixth in the National League South, with numerous games in hand.

After the hosts had lost a 2-0 lead, they recovered to claim a sixth league win in 10 matches - a quarter of the season now gone.

‘We showed great character to come back,’ said Doswell.

‘They were dangerous early on, for the first 15 minutes.

‘But that was understandable with the changes we had to make.’

They included Roarie Deacon playing at left back just days after his father had passed away from Covid-19.

‘We talked about it beforehand, and it was a nice tribute to Roarie’s dad to get the win today,’ Doswell stated.

Hawks led 2-0 at the interval but ex-loanee Ryan Seager reduced the arrears within a minute of the second half, and later levelled with a stunning 20-yarder.

‘I genuinely felt they deserved that first goal,’ said Doswell. ‘In the context of the game, 2-1 to us was about right.

‘It was a terrific game of football - it was like basketball at the end, back and fore.

‘We could have scored three or four more, their keeper’s made some great saves and I don’t remember Ross (Worner) making one after their second goal.

‘I was chuffed for Ryan Seager today. He had a tough time with us - his dad passed away with cancer, he had a few injuries, we couldn’t get him fit.

‘He’s a credit to himself. We’ve all been going through some tough times, and I know he went through one when he was with us.

‘I think Hungerford deserve a lot of credit, they have players who can hurt you.’

Doswell admitted Hawks’ set-pieces were crucial to the victory - the first three goals all coming via Josh Taylor corners or free-kicks.

‘We work relentlessly on set-pieces in training - a lot of credit goes to the coaching staff - but they are only as good as the delivery and Josh put two on a plate today.’

Hungerford boss Danny Robinson had no excuses, tweeting: ‘You win games on what you do in both boxes...! Didn’t defend well enough from set pieces & didn’t take our chances especially in the first 25mins. Endeavour & quality was there at times but like I always say at least we died trying!’

Doswell added: ‘We’re now a quarter of the way through our league season.

‘We’ve earned almost £100,000 from the FA Cup run, we’re in the last 32 of the FA Trophy, and we’ve taken 20 points from 10 league games.

‘Two points a game is always my target. Eighty points should win you a title, so we’ve had a terrific start.’