Boss Steven King insists Whitehawk must not worry about other teams as they chase a place in the fifth tier of English football.

The Hawks are fourth in Vanarama Conference south and on course for the play-off places with eight games of the season remaining.

Five years after playing in the County League, the prospect of featuring in the Conference national is very real.

While they were having a week off last Saturday, results among the teams around them went largely in Whitehawk’s favour.

They cannot now be overhauled by teams with games in hand, although the race for a top five finish remains tight.

King’s Whitehawk side play five of the top nine in their last eight games, including a visit to second-placed Boreham Wood today, then third-placed Basingstoke at home next Saturday.

King told The Argus: “Last Saturday was near perfect for us as five of the top seven didn’t get good results.

“Before that a lot of the other teams had games in hand but that is not the case now.

“It is game by game for us. We have a lot of the top teams still to play.

“It is in our hands. We can only take care of ourselves. I would rather be playing the teams around us than the teams down the bottom.”

Hawks have a full strength squad to take to Boreham Wood.

Victory would lift King’s men to within two points of their rivals with a game in hand, while defeat could see them knocked out of the top five.

King added: “This game won’t define our season. If the result didn’t go our way, other teams could only go one point ahead of us.

“It will be a tough game. Boreham Wood have a great record at home but we are more than capable of beating anybody.”