Steve King called on his Whitehawk side to get their feet up and rest after a tough cup night.

But he believes there are lessons to be learnt as they plot an escape from relegation.

Hawks lost 3-1 to Albion’s development squad in Tuesday’s Parafix Sussex Senior Cup quarter-final.

They had good periods either side of half-time and should have levelled through Gold Omotayo.

But King was unhappy with their defending – and an offside flag which never came – on the first two Albion goals, both scored by Henrik Bjordal.

The Hawks boss said: “Two of the goals were preventable.

“The first one, the defender only has to head it and he ducks out of for it – for what? Shocking defending.

“The second one was offside but we should deal with that before it gets to that stage.

“The linesman was not up with the play which I can respect because all along the touchline was very slippery.

“He was five yards behind play – but he (Bjordal) was offside.

“Gold should have scored at the end of the first half and we had a shout for a penalty.

“We huffed and puffed. They were better than us.

“They played in the pockets and in between the lines better than us.

“For 20 minutes we gave them too much respect.

“At times we were decent, at times we were poor.

“But I enjoyed it. It was a good exercise.”

Hawks are expected to add to their midfield ahead of the trip to Vanarama National League south leaders Dartford on Saturday.

Although still adrift, they have taken ten points from their last four matches to spark hope of an incredible escape from the drop.

Asked if his side will enjoy visiting the leaders, King replied: “Yes, 100%. We just need to recharge the batteries.

“They have worked hard to get where they are.

“It has taken a lot out of them, especially Tuesday night chasing Brighton around.”