Baird's keen to bring Benno back

By Wendy Gee -

"The player is very keen to come and prove he could play at a higher level"

EASTLEIGH are trying to conclude a deal to bring Gosport Borough striker Justin Bennett back to the Silverlake Stadium on a three-month loan.

With Brett Williams joining Championship side Reading this week and ex-Saint Jamie White no longer at the club, the Spitfires need back-up for frontmen Jamie Slabber and Richard Gillespie as they close in on the Blue Square Bet South play-off spots.

Bennett, 28, originally joined Eastleigh in the summer of 2006 having been a prolific scorer for Andover, but a serious knee injury kept him out for the entire season.

He was initially loaned to Gosport to regain fitness and then joined them as a contract player, finishing top Southern One South & West marksman for two of the next three seasons.

He spent the last five weeks of the 2008/09 campaign on loan at Borough's league rivals AFC Totton, banging in nine goals in eight games.

"We've agreed a deal with Gosport and the player is very keen to come and prove he could play at a higher level," said Eastleigh's director of football Dave Malone.

"Justin's a speedy goal scorer who would suit the way we play.

"He's probably a more prolific goal scorer than Brett Williams, but he's not got as many tricks."

Under FA rules Eastleigh can only loan Bennet for 93 days.

Spitfires boss Ian Baird saw quite a bit of Bennett during his loan at Totton and said: "I like him, he's decent."

Eastleigh have just two strikers, Slabber and Gillespie, to choose from for tomorrow's visit of Dorchester.

White rejoined the Spitfires over Christmas looking to get some game time under his belt after a long spell out with cruciate ligament damage - the latest in a string of injuries suffered by the luckless ex-Saint.

But he played just 22 minutes and, according to Baird, the sheer frustration of sitting on the bench was getting to him.

"Every game he didn't play, you could see more and more frustration in his eyes. He said he wanted to go and get games," said Baird.

"But no disrespect to Jamie, when you've been out the length of time he has, you can't just walk into a Conference South side. He's a good lad who trains and works very hard, but he's not match fit."

Eastleigh are on a run of nine games unbeaten. They have won their last four in the league and sit eighth in the table, four points shy of the play-off spots.

Barring centre-back Chris Holland, who was due to see a chiropractor about the back spasms that have ruled him out for two games, Eastleigh have a rare clean bill of health.

Luke Byles is over his hamstring trouble and played the last few minutes of Monday's 4-1 FA Trophy replay win at Worcester and Brett Poate is available again after broken arm and calf problems.