Hawks’ momentum checked by Weston-super-Mare defeat
Cliff De Gordon rued an ‘awful’ first-half performance after Hawks missed the chance to give their survival hopes a further boost.
Hawks’ tremendous run of five wins in seven National League South matches was halted by a 2-1 home defeat against Weston-super-Mare on Saturday.
A victory would have lifted the Westleigh Park club up two places to fourth from bottom, but instead they remain second from bottom and 10 points from safety.
And interim co-manager De Gordon was far from happy with his team’s display during an opening period which Hawks ended 1-0 down.
Speaking to the club’s social media channels, he said: “I’m really happy with the second-half performance. The first-half performance was awful, absolutely awful.
“We weren’t at the races, we weren’t in the stadium I don’t think.
“We gave Weston 45 minutes’ head start, we naively gave them a goal and we were playing catchup again – that’s two weeks running now.
“We kept playing long balls. We’re not a big team, so why are we playing long balls?
“But we addressed it, and second half we came out and from the first whistle we were on it.
“The second-half performance was back to our usual standards, but we can’t really afford to be giving away 45 minutes of football on a weekly basis.”
Facing a Weston side who had taken two points from their previous five games, Hawks would have fancied their chances of beginning 2004 with a third straight win. But they trailed at the break to a James Dodd goal in the 39th minute.
Hawks stepped up a gear after the break and Roarie Deacon fired narrowly over before Jack Jebb’s free-kick was well saved.
The hosts levelled in the 65th minute when Roberts received the ball from Ryan Seager and made his way into the box before firing home.
De Gordon felt Hawks were ‘well on top’ at that stage, but Weston won it thanks to Lloyd Humphries’ 83rd-minute finish.