Hawks put themselves in strong position for top-seven finish with Hampton & Richmond victory - but Paul Doswell stresses high standards must be maintained to get over the line

With two games to play, seventh-placed Hawks have opened up a three-point gap between themselves and Chippenham - in eighth - following their 3-0 home victory over Hampton & Richmond at Westleigh Park, coupled with the Bluebirds' 2-2 draw at promotion-chasing Ebbsfleet United.

It means Doswell's side could potentially make sure of a top-seven finish with a game to spare should Chippenham lose or draw at home to Hungerford and Hawks win on the road at Hemel Hempstead on Monday.

But despite finding themselves in the driving seat in the play-off race, the Hawks boss - whose side host Chippneham on the final day at Westleigh Park - would be foolish to think the job of securing a top-seven finish is all but done.

Doswell said: ‘We've put ourselves in a really strong position, but not a position which is not catchable yet, so we can't take our foot off the pedal, that's for sure.

‘I thought we were excellent in the second half, especially (against Hampton). One of the things we're realised, teams come here with real intensity and enthusiasm for the first hour - if you can see that hour out - that's when our quality comes through from 60 to 90 (minutes).

‘It's happened in a lot of games here (at Westleigh Park) - we were 0-0 at half-time against Braintree and won 4-0.

‘Like I said, for that first hour, teams almost expend their energy with half-hour to go Hampton visibly stopped the amount of running they were doing. I thought it was a dominant second-half performance, we could have had six or seven.’

Captain Oastler settled the nerves four minutes before the break as he hooked home from a corner to hand Hawks the lead. It was then over to James Roberts who netted twice in four second-half minutes to wrap up the 3-0 victory over Hampton.