Steven King will expect Whitehawk to defend better as a unit when they go to Hemel Hempstead looking for their first points in Conference south this season.

New-look Hawks have suffered back-to-back defeats against Staines and much-fancied Bromley but boss King knows his players need time to knit together.

King felt the 4-1 scoreline flattered Bromley on Tuesday but does not want a repeat of the “sloppy” goals that undid a lot of good work.

He said: “We shall take the game to them like we did on Tuesday. It just shows the level of respect they had for us as they sat everyone behind the ball even as the home team and tried to hit us on the counter attack.

“We conceded pretty sloppy goals and the defending as a team was not good enough as they came straight down the middle of the pitch.”

King added: “At 2-1 down we had a fantastic chance to score and missed from four yards out. We also should have had a penalty after a foul on Sergio Torres, which could have made it 2-2 as well. You always felt the next goal was going to be the decider.

“They got it from a throw-in and the last one was an absolute rocket.

“It is going to take time but they, along with Ebbsfleet, are going to be the top side in the league.”