Baird hoping for a Bognor Regis repeat

By Wendy Gee -

WHEN Ian Baird last faced Bognor Regis Town in the second qualifying round three years ago, it started a chain of events the like of which had seldom been witnessed in the FA Cup.

In his last game in charge of Havant & Waterlooville before his controversial move to Eastleigh, Baird guided the Hawks to a 2-1 win at Nyewood Lane which, at the time, seemed just a run-of-the-mill result.

But the run kept going and going under Baird's successor Shaun Gale, resulting in that never-to-be forgotten day at Anfield where Havant twice led the mighty Liverpool in the fourth round proper before succumbing to a 5-2 defeat.

Jamie Slabber set the ball rolling by scoring Havant's 81st minute winner at Bognor.

Now reunited with Baird at Eastleigh, the tall ex-Spurs striker will be gunning for them again at the Silverlake Stadium tomorrow having opened the season with six Blue Square Bet South goals in nine games.

Back in 2007/08 the Rocks were a Conference South side too, but they were relegated at the end of a crisis-hit 2008/09 season and have since dropped another level into the Ryman League Division One South.

But the rot is showing signs of stopping with Bognor sitting fourth with four wins and one draw from their opening six league games.

"When Bognor were relegated last year they had quite a young side, but if you look at them now they've got Craig Stoner in goal, Luke Nightingale, who Havant paid big money for, Duncan Jupp, Tim Bond, who did well at Salisbury, and Dean Maynard, who was with Newport County and Cheltenham," said Baird.

"Quite a few players seem to have rejoined them this year and they've got a squad that could hold their own in the Conference South."

While Bognor haven't made it beyond the qualifying rounds for the last 15 years, Eastleigh created club history last season by reaching the first round proper.

Agonisingly they lost to a 93rd-minute winner at Barrow in a match they dominated, but the feel-good factor of that Cup run brought an upturn in league results that lasted for three months.

"Some clubs find a Cup run gets in the way of the league, but it didn't hinder us at all," said Baird. "In fact it kick-started our season and gave everyone a big lift.

"From a prestige and financial point of view, we all love a good cup run and tomorrow's a big, big game for both clubs."

Midfielder Anthony Riviere suffered a bit of soreness around the Achilles after making his long-awaited comeback as a sub at Braintree last week and Luke Byles and Jamie Brown are expected to shrug off knocks that ruled them out of Tuesday training.