Jake McCarthy halfway towards reaching a personal target as Hawks prepare for titanic early-season National League South showdown against Ebbsfleet

The midfielder has struck five times in seven league fixtures to help Paul Doswell’s side establish a club record for the best ever start to a campaign.

McCarthy’s goals - including a late winner against Farnborough - have been a focal point during an unbeaten run of six wins and a draw.

The only side in the division with a better record is Ebbsfleet, who have won all seven of their games to sit two points clear at the top.

That means this weekend’s Westleigh Park clash between the top two, therefore, is one to relish.

McCarthy set himself a pre-season goals target of double figures.

It was a target he reached during his debut Hawks season in 2021/22, with seven league and four FA Cup strikes.

Only two of those goals, however, arrived after early November.

This season, an opening day goal against Slough has been followed with efforts in each of Hawks’ last four wins, culminating in last weekend’s 4-3 triumph at Chelmsford.

It was a typically stunning McCarthy strike - a venomous right-foot drive crashing in off the crossbar from just inside the penalty area – at the ground where he netted a hat-trick last term.

Previously this season the former Weymouth regular had struck a sublime volley against Slough and a curling 25-yard effort against Dover.

Anyone who witnessed McCarthy’s superb volleys against Torquay (FA Cup) and Eastbourne in 2021/22 won’t have been surprised by the quality of his recent efforts.

Indeed, a montage of his Hawks strikes would look like a contender for any league’s Goal of the Season award.

‘I don’t really like scoring tap-ins!’ he quipped to The News. ‘I prefer scoring them from long distance.

‘The goal against Farnborough was a tap in, though, I don’t think James Roberts was too happy!

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‘But they all count as one goal, whether they’re scored from two yards or 50 yards out.’

McCarthy added: ‘You always want to get off to a good start. It helps going into September that we’ve had a good August.

‘We’re scoring a goal, but we’re conceding a lot. That’s something we can improve on, we need to keep things tight at the back.

‘My role is similar to last season in a middle three - sometimes I’m asked to play more of a holding role, other times I’m asked to play a more attacking role.

‘Any club is a good place to be when you’re winning. It’ll be a big statement if we can get a win this weekend, but it’s still so early in the season - nothing is decided now.

‘Ebbsfleet are a very good side, but we’re going into it with a lot of confidence. We beat them twice last season and hopefully we can get another result.

‘It’s a long old season, and every game in this league is tough.’

Hawks ended a run of nine league games without a win last February when they beat Ebbsfleet 4-2 at Westleigh Park.

Since then, Ebbsfleet have lost only twice in 21 regular season league games, winning 13 of their last 14 fixtures and drawing the other.

For their part, Hawks went on to miss out on the play-offs following a last-day home loss to Chippenham.

‘We weren’t good enough overall,’ McCarthy recalled. ‘Our mid-season run was obviously poor.

‘There was a lot of disappointment in that we fell short, hopefully we can put it right this year.’