Hawks Strikers On Song

[FF News]

The Hawks injected new life into their Vanarama Conference South promotion bid by breezing to a 3-1 win over Eastbourne Borough.

All three goals came from Hawks strikers who have been enduring a lean spell of late.

Bradley Bubb, Ben Wright and Shamir Mullings all rediscovered their goal touch.

A delighted Lee Bradbury saw his team move to within five points of leaders Boreham Wood with a game in hand.

The target, after narrowly missing out on the play-offs last season, is to go one better this time around.

After this win, the mood in the camp suggests the Westleigh Park club still fancy their chances of claiming the title.

That would bring automatic promotion and well and truly bury the tag of nearly men, applied to them at the end of last season.

Bradbury has been in the game far too long to get carried away, though, and his focus remains on winning the next game.

'This is a big three points for us,' said Bradbury.

'We played very well and the difference was we took our chances to score some very good goals.

'I was really pleased with our performance overall and not just with the goals.

'We laid the foundations in the first half with a lot of hard work and got stronger as the game went on.

'The attitude of the players and the hard work and graft they put in off the ball was terrific.

'With all the other results going for us it takes us up to third and everything to fight for.'

In an evenly-fought first-half both teams created chances and were denied by the woodwork.

Kiran Khinda-John bounced a header off the Hawks bar, while at the other end Harry Cornick saw his fiercely-struck drive bounce over off the woodwork.

Two goals in five minutes at the start of the second half suddenly put the Hawks in charge.

On 48 minutes, Bubb showed his predatory skills by turning in a Cornick shot from close range, before the Hawks added a second three minutes later.

It came from a routine practised many times on the training ground.

Ben Swallow drilled in a low corner and Wright smashed his first-time shot into the roof of the net.

When Borough hit back through Nathaniel Pinney with 72 minutes on the clock, the visitors looked as though they could be in for an uncomfortable finale.

Instead, within a minute, substitute Mullings eased the situation with a 30-yard wonder strike.

'I always say to the players you have to buy a ticket to win a raffle and Shamir will find it difficult to hit a better one,' said Bradbury.

'It was a fantastic strike.

'This is a massive win for us at a time when we have stuttered a little of late.

'It is only one game, though, and we have to push on again from here.'

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