How highly Paul Doswell rated Hawks' first-half demolition of Concord Rangers

Hawks came racing out of the traps in their thumping 5-2 National League South victory in front of a crowd of 1,382 at Westleigh Park on the club's 'Non-League Day'.

Defender Jamie Collins' double, the second of which came from the penalty spot for his first goals for the club since January 2009, along with efforts from Jake McCarthy and Tommy Wright saw the hosts head in at the break leading 4-0.

And it could easily have been a bigger half-time advantage for Hawks had it not been for a succession of fine saves from Concord's loanee Watford goalkeeper Myles Roberts.

In fact, such was the level of performance from his men in a blistering opening 45 minutes, experienced boss Doswell ranked it as one of the best first-half showings he'd seen from one of his teams in 24 years in management.

The Hawks boss said: ‘In my time here - even at Sutton and Eastleigh - I think that ranks up there in the top one or two (best first-half displays). It wasn’t just the fact we were leading 4-0 – it could have been seven or eight.

‘We played some lovely football, we got the ball down and played, I just thought we blew Concord away in that first half.

‘It’s down to the 11 who were out on the pitch, we’ve got some good players, I think we’re starting to see the combinations and partnerships work. The players are starting to get to know each other.

‘We’ve put a new group together and I’m just sensing it’s starting to click. The first half we were absolutely outstanding.’

Unfortunately, Hawks were unable to reach the heights of that dazzling first-half display after the restart.

Substitute Temi Babalola and Ben Allen both struck to bring Concord back to 4-2 before Alex Wall rifled home the hosts' second penalty of the afternoon in stoppage-time to round off the scoring.

But Doswell says he could not be too critical of his players for their slight level drop after the break having already put themselves in a virtual winning position by half time.

He added: ‘You almost don’t want the game to stop at that point at half time. (At) half time all we talked about was keeping a clean sheet and not conceding a goal then we concede a goal.

‘It takes a little bit of the wind out of your sails. Within the team I knew I had a few players who’d been out long term - Jamie Collins and Michael Green - it was hot out there and I just sensed we ran out of gas for a period.

‘I think it would be unfair of me to pin my team too much for the second half when they’d already got themselves in a position to win the game.’