Eastleigh down to bare bones

By Wendy Gee -

IAN Baird's Christmas wish for Eastleigh is that the Blue Square Bet South promotion chasers steer clear of injury, illness and suspension.

Having lost Richard Gillespie for six weeks with a broken hand and terminated fellow frontman Jamie Brown's contract by mutual consent, the Spitfires are running low on bodies for a packed festive programme of league matches which, weather permitting, kicks off at home to Farnborough on Boxing Day (3pm).

They then travel to Weston-super-Mare on Tuesday, December 28 (3pm) before meeting Farnborough again at Cherrywood Road on New Year's Day (3pm).

Just 48 hours later, they welcome south coast rivals Havant & Waterlooville to the Silverlake Stadium on Monday, January 3 (3pm).

Despite being up against it with both Luke Byles (virus) and Warren Goodhind (calf) unavailable and Brett Poate still not back from a broken arm, Eastleigh turned in one of their most professional performances of the season to blow away Paul Doswell's Sutton United 4-0 in last Tuesday's FA Trophy replay.

But with versatile defender Goodhind one of three players walking a suspension tightrope, Baird has his fingers and toes tightly crossed that his squad come through the demanding Christmas and New Year period unscathed.

Both Goodhind and Richard Graham were yellow-carded in the first game against Sutton, taking them onto four bookings, along with skipper and central defensive giant Tom Jordan.

One more for any of them would result in a one-match ban for five cautions.

"Injuries have cost us in the past and I don't want them to cost us again," said Baird, whose side are tenth in the BSB South, just five points outside the play-off zone.

He would love to bring in a replacement for Brown but said: "The board of directors have been fervent in stating that the budget is the budget and we're not going to go outside those parameters.

"At the moment we're down to 13 fit players but, because we slightly overspent on one or two, we won't be able to bring anyone in.

"With Jamie Brown going, it's back to balancing the budget.

"We've got a lot of games coming up in a short space of time and it's a big ask for a squad the size of ours particularly when we've got three players walking a suspension tightrope.

"But we just have to get on with it."

Due to Eastleigh's Hampshire Senior Cup tie against Havant & Waterlooville being postponed for a second time at Westleigh Park, HFA rules state that the tie will become an Eastleigh home fixture and take place on Monday, January 10.