Dowson Knows Stage Is Set For Beavers

Everyone except Hampton manager Alan Dowson, that is.

“That’s what I thought it would be last Sunday morning when I woke up before the game and it turned out I was right” he said. “I thought we would win at Chelmsford and I knew Braintree would at Dartford.

“Bradley has got them firing down there and we’re firing here. They are a really good side with some excellent players in their team.

“We’re quite similar, both underdogs really going into the play-offs but we’re both there on merit and I’m telling you now that both will want to grab this opportunity with both hands because they don’t come along very often.”

Dowson was speaking in National League’s official matchday programme and he knows whoever wins this game will have done it that hard way.

“We’ve both come through tough eliminators and enough tougher semi-finals,” he said. “Not many people would have predicted that but that’s the play-offs for you!

“But we showed character again. We have had to provide a lot of that since I have been here and if you have got character, you have got a chance.

“Against Chelmsford we had two players who really shouldn’t have been out there on the pitch. But they were out there, and the kicked and they headed every single ball. Now that’s courage. Don’t worry about that, we’ve got bucket loads of the stuff here.”

Don’t forget to buy your match day programme - on sale at the Beveree on Sunday!