19 days later and the Hawks are back. It’s been a healthy while but for a once poleaxed squad this brief hiatus has come at a good time as manager Shaun Saunders welcomes a few names back into his plans as they journey up the A23 for a slice of Boxing Day action in Three Bridges.

Looking to complete a first league double of the campaign following the 3-0 victory over ‘The Bridges’ in late August, it’s a chance to reignite that blistering league form that has taken this side so high up the table after a rocky spell that spurned 3 league defeats in four outings.

Last time out

Remember it? It was that freezing, frosty night in Sevenoaks where the dense chill reflected Whitehawk’s performance, who struggled to compete with a side that looked hungrier and healthier.

There have been few occasions this campaign where the Hawks have blown away opposition on a visiting pasture, and it was that feeling of perhaps showing their hosts too much respect that lost them this game.

The evening effectively over moments before the break as Freddie Parker headed in his side’s second, it was an improved second half showing from the Hawks who could only find a route back into it with virtually the game’s final kick: Jerson dos Santos burying his penalty to make it 2-1. Shelve it, onto the next one…

The hosts

Situated precariously in 17th a mere point away from relegation play-off safety, it’s been an interesting season for Jamie Crellin’s Bridges who are, strangely enough, yet to draw a game in the league.

So there’ll be a result, you’d assume as our Boxing Day hosts arrive on the back of a 1-0 defeat at Littlehampton Town in early December. Boasting the worst away record in the division with eight losses from their eight journeys, their home form has been a complete contrast: winning six and losing just the one.

Certainly enjoying the comforts of Jubilee Field, the mid-Sussex side storm into this one with four consecutive home league victories that featured wins over Chatham Town and Sittingbourne.

Noel Leighton and Brannon O’Neill share the club’s golden boot award currently with four goals apiece, with this a team set on sharing the goals.

Previous encounters

It was on August’s late Bank Holiday Monday where a fine Joel Daly rocket capped a wonderfully warm afternoon at The Enclosed Ground with a 3-0 victory assured. A complete contrast to the season prior where five reds card were brandished in *that* famed game.

The Hawks’ last visit to Three Bridges’ Jubilee Field was Saunders’ first on the road, but ended in negative fashion as a very different looking Whitehawk succumbed to a 2-1 defeat late last season.

The Hawks’ last victory at Jubilee Field was back in 2019, where a Lucas Rodrigues hat-trick helped the seaside club to a 5-3 win on an entertaining November evening that saw Jude Macdonald’s side 3-1 down at the interval.