Hawks keeper Ross Worner set to miss rest of National League South season

The Hawks keeper has been sidelined since picking up an injury over-extending his leg during the home loss to National League South leaders Ebbsfleet in early November.

Now, following a scan, the 33-year-old will go under the knife to ensure he is fully fit for the start of next season.

‘There’s a couple of meniscus tears and bits of floating bone,’ reported Hawks boss Paul Doswell. ‘Ross could have a minor op, but the knee might still not be too good.

‘He’s had problems with the same knee before.’

Hawks currently have keeper Brad House on a three-month loan from League Two club Sutton United, a stint which runs out at the end of January.

‘The ideal scenario would be to keep Brad, now we’ve got to know him,’ said Doswell. ‘We’ll see if Sutton are happy to extend the loan or whether we’ll have to look elsewhere.’

House conceded five goals last weekend as Worthing stunned Hawks with a eyebrow-raising 5-1 romp at Westleigh Park.

Doswell said there was far more to the game than initially meets the eye.

‘We had a team meeting on Tuesday and we showed the players we had 14 chances - seven of which were unmissable,’ he told The News.

‘Then we showed them the six chances Worthing had, of which two were defendable.

‘We should have been 4-0 up in 20 minutes before they broke and scored. Then we had more chances in the second half before they broke and scored again.

‘We pulled it back to 3-1 before we hit the post, hit the bar and had one cleared off the line.

‘Mo (Faal) missed from two yards, Paul Rooney missed from two yards - it was ridiculous.

‘I couldn’t be too critical of the strikers because up until Tuesday we were the highest scorers in the league.’

Ebbsfleet now hold that record after travelling to Worthing in midweek and collecting a remarkable 6-0 victory. Fleet now have 49 goals, four more than Hawks.

Third-placed Hawks head to lowly Slough this weekend before hosting fellow high-fliers Dartford next Wednesday. A trip to St Albans follows on December 17.

‘We’re targeting two wins from the next three games,’ said Doswell. ‘That would give us 49 points at the halfway point - that would be an incredible achievement, it would be amazing.’

Hawks are considering whether to send Sam Magri out for a second loan stint in a bid to regain match fitness.

The centre half has recently returned from a short stint at Gosport Borough, where he featured in three Southern League games.

Doswell said: ‘Sam was out for a year and he needs minutes.

‘It could be that I sacrifice the bench in order to give him the game time he needs elsewhere.’

Another centre half, Joash Nembhard, could return to training in early January. He has been sidelined with a foot injury since the FA Cup loss to Weymouth almost two months ago.