Hawks still wrestling with striker shortage for National League South clash with Oxford City

Among his concerns are who is going to play as a central striker and who could partner Joe Oastler in central defence.

Strikers Danny Wright and Jason Prior both missed last weekend’s FA Cup home loss to Weymouth.

Prior is going for a scan on his calf problem while Wright is due to visit an osteopath on Friday.

After missing the Weymout defeat through a calf strain, Wright trained today but reported stiffness in his back.

Centre half Jamie Collins was deployed as a central striker in the FA Cup due to a lack of alternatives. But he is absent this weekend after picking up a calf injury in training.

Mo Faal, James Roberts and Giovanni Crichlow are all attacking players, but none are suited to a target man role.

‘Danny could turn up on Saturday saying he feels fine,’ said Doswell. ‘But then I run the risk knowing he could break down and we’d have to make an early substitution.

‘The honest answer is I don’t know who we’ll be picking for Saturday.’

On the plus side, Tommy Wright has made ‘great progress’ in this week’s training sessions. Unlikely to start, he could well be named on the bench and handed a 15-20 minute role if needed.

Though 6ft 4in tall, Faal has never played as a central striker since joining Hawks.

‘Mo is a terrific player but he’s the worst header of a ball I’ve ever seen. He’s 6ft 4 and heads the ball 4ft 10!’

The manager added: ‘It could be that we look to change the system to suit what players we do have available.

‘Having a number nine is a big part of the way we play, with getting balls into the box - Jason Prior and Danny Wright have been outstanding, they are a big miss.’

At the back, Joash Nembhard - an ever present at centre half alongside Oastler this term in NLS action - hasn’t trained all week due to a foot injury which saw him taken off in the second half of the FA Cup defeat.

With Paul Rooney still around a fortnight away from returning, Jake McCarthy is one option to play in central defence with Doswell rating Nembhard’s chances - as of this afternoon - as ‘60-40 against.’

With nine wins and two draws from their opening 11 league games, Hawks have made their best ever start to a NLS campaign.

They are now one of only two clubs in the top six tiers of English football still protecting an unbeaten league record in 2022/23. Remarkably, divisional rivals Ebbsfleet - two points clear of Hawks in top spot - are the other.

Oxford City, who completed the double over Hawks last term, have made a wildly inconsistent start to the campaign.

They won four of their opening five games, all without conceding a goal, but have not won any of their last six NLS fixtures.

They followed up three straight losses with three successive draws, including a 1-1 stalemate with Ebbsfleet - the only points the latter have dropped all season.