August 31, 2015, is not a date that resounds with importance, but to Sutton United boss Paul Doswell, it was perhaps one of the most significant days in his managerial career.

Sutton United had just lost 2-0 at Whitehawk in the National League South with a lacklustre performance that left Doswell and co fearing another season of disappointment.

There were also off-the-field issues that were affecting two key players, and when words were exchanged in the dressing room post-match, the management knew changed had to be made.

With a new skipper and a new midfield installed, United would go on to lose twice more in eight months.

Doswell said: “Whitehawk was a key moment of the season. Ian [Baird] and I would have been culpable if we had not acted after that game.

“Jamie [Collins] was not playing that day, but we were so far away from where we wanted to be in terms of the legs of the team - we looked like an old team.

A Sutton United front: Win over Portsmouth shows more positive signs ahead of the big kick-off

SUTTON UNITED: Stephens, the quiet man of Sutton United, but also the essential eyes in the dugout

“One or two of them playing that day had issues away from football – Glen [Southam] has gone public with his gambling problems, and it was affecting his football.

“Mickey Spillane was without doubt a talented player, but he had fallen from the levels when he first joined.

“He was a classic case of someone with unbelievable talent who played for Norwich City, but was not taking his football with us as seriously as he should, and it was showing through in his performances.

“He really struggled with going to play at Concord and Wealdstone, when he could and should have been playing at Carrow Road.

“He had personal problems away from the pitch and he had lost that bit of desire we expected.”

He added: “You mix that in with Glen and the problems he was having, and the fact they’re your two central midfielders, it is not a great situation.

“We went and got Craig Eastmond and Bedsente Gomis in to replace them, and from that day on, we got energy and vibrancy back into that midfield.”

Despite having to bring the axe down on the duo’s time at United, Doswell has sympathy with them, and footballers all over the world.

He said: “People look at footballers like they are machines, they’re not, they are just like you and I.

“They have all got as many worries as all of us and there is a home-life, it includes children, gambling or AA.

“As a manager, you’re as much a psychiatrist and carer as you are coach.”