Alan Dowson took a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson's management manual last Saturday in order to keep Kingstonian's play-off charge on track.

In a rant reminiscent of Fergie's boot-kicking antics, Dowson gave his Ks squad the full hairdryer treatment after an insipid first-half display against Cray Wanderers saw them go into the break at 1-1 when they needed a win to stay in touch with the top five.

The 40 year-old showed his Geordie temper in a rant that inspired a much-better second-half performance, leading to a 2-1 win, while his assistant Mark Hams was more reserved as the pair played out a scene often seen in bad police shows.

"We always try and play good cop bad cop," said Dowson.

"Mark was as unhappy as I was about the first half but he let me do the ranting.

"We haven't done it for a long time but I wanted to put the boot into them, they needed to realise our season depended on the result.

"Anybody can give a rollicking but it is when you do it and how you do it that makes a difference.

"As we won the game it worked but it could have gone very wrong and they could have gone into their shells and worried about making mistakes and me shouting at them again.

"It was a lovely summers day and the crowd was quiet and people were just bathing in the sunshine "It made the players quiet and that was the reason I wanted to shake things up a little bit.

"We couldn't let the game go by as it was turning into being a 1-1 pre-season friendly."

Tom Hutchinson's header and Simon Huckle's volley gave Ks their fourth win from five games but it was still not enough to lift them into the play-off places.

Rivals Harrow Borough, Canvey Island, Lowestoft Town, Concord Rangers and Billericay Town all won, with Tonbridge Angels also claiming three points in their game in hand on Tuesday night.

Kingstonian are now three points off the play-offs but with many of their rivals playing each other on Saturday and Dowson's men hosting bottom side Folkestone Invicta, they have the perfect chance to move into the top five.

"It is a shame everyone won but it cannot happen all the time," said Dowson.

"We know we have to win these games we have left and some teams are playing each other this weekend.

"We have Folkestone but they beat us at their place so it is going to be tough."

Ks' remaining games: Apr 16 Folkestone Invicta (h), 22 AFC Hornchurch (a), 25 Tooting & Mitcham (h), 30 Margate (a).