Pablo Asensio has vowed to stand by his players in testing times after being repaid for his support.

The Whitehawk boss saw goalkeeper Lucas Covolan excel under the high ball in the win over Dartford, four days after dropping a costly error. Hawks hope he looks just as solid when Maidenhead visit tomorrow.

Asensio said: “He went for a corner in the 44th minute of the first half (at Weston-super-Mare last Saturday), he didn’t catch that cross and they scored from it.

“He was devastated. He talked to me, he apologised about 1,000 times.

“I said ‘I’m going to stand by you because I believe in you’.

“He’s a former Brazil under-20s player. He is 24 now.

“I need to stand by my players in the bad times. I did that and he repaid me.”

Defender Marvin Hamilton took a blow to the head on Wednesday and is a doubt.

Tommy Widdrington has urged Eastbourne Borough to remain on an even keel after the highs and lows of the opening week.

Borough beat Hemel Hempstead 3-0 and were leading at Hampton and Richmond before losing 3-1.

They go to Gosport and, though Widdrington has licence to strengthen his squad, he said: “We won’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

“Everyone around me enthused maybe too much last Saturday. Then we lose and people say ‘What’s happening?’ “We didn’t get a lot wrong in our first two games and I won’t do a lot different at Gosport.”

Widdrington’s main complaint from his side’s efforts so far was how they managed to be 2-1 down at half-time at Hampton after going ahead.

But he said: “We had a really good training session and we will work again (today).”