Paul Doswell salutes injury-hit Havant & Waterlooville after draw at Maidstone United in National League South

Paul Doswell lauded the efforts of his injury-hit Hawks as they battled to a 2-2 draw at Maidstone United in National League South on Saturday.
Danny Kedwell made an instant impact for the Hawks. Picture: Habibur RahmanDanny Kedwell made an instant impact for the Hawks. Picture: Habibur Rahman
Danny Kedwell made an instant impact for the Hawks. Picture: Habibur Rahman

The visitors were seconds away from nicking a win at the Gallagher Stadium but conceded an equaliser in stoppage-time.

Doswell admitted a win would have been a bit of a steal and was happy to take a point.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He was also delighted to see his side stretch their unbeaten start to 10 games and consolidate second place in the table.

‘It was a brilliant game of football and to be honest we were lucky to come away with a point,’ said Doswell.

‘Maidstone put us under a lot of pressure and Ross Worner pulled off six or seven fantastic saves.

‘It would have been a massive nick if we had held on.

‘Maidstone certainly deserved to get something out of the game.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘They were dangerous and had more energy than us which wasn’t surprising.

‘Playing on Wednesday didn’t give us a lot of recovery time.

‘All credit to my players, though, because it was a brilliant away point considering how many were out there playing with niggles and injuries. It was a fantastic team performance and at the end I was just hoping we might get away with it.’

The Hawks started well enough but it wasn’t long before the Stones got on top.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Worner produced a couple of good saves before the hosts took a 26th-minute lead.

Jonathan Edwards pounced on a poor back-header from Sam Magri and lobbed the ball over Worner.

The Hawks were gifted a way back into the game midway through the second half when Roarie Deacon was clumsily brought down inside the area.

Anthony Straker sent Maidstone keeper Jake Cole the wrong way to level the scores.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With eight minutes of the game left, substitute Danny Kedwell made a dramatic entrance.

Sent on before a corner he scored with his first touch – heading in at the far post from the set-piece

‘It was a great header and I’m so pleased for him,’ added Doswell.

‘He isn’t really fit enough to even be on the bench.’

Two minutes into stoppage-time, just when it looked as though the Hawks would hang on, Dan Wishart headed in a cross at the back post.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.