Hawks downed by Saints

They made hard work of the win though as towards the end they were hanging on a bit after apparently cruising home with a quarter of the contest remaining.

The return of Paul Ruddy gave the midfield greater steel and, having already thundered one header against the crossbar, the former Hastings United man nodded a 28th minute opener from Jimmy Elford's free kick.

And when Dave Flemming got goalside of Toby Phillips to fire home Dean Thomas' low centre for the second on the hour, it appeared as though Saints would stroll home.

But Whitehawk substitute Craig Bunch fired in nine minutes later and the home side all of a sudden became nervous but held on with few alarms.

Manager Gary Bowyer said: "I'm chuffed to win but I think we got a bit edgy."