Eastleigh rained off

By Wendy Gee - 

IAN Baird was bitterly disappointed yesterday when Eastleigh's eagerly-anticipated BSB South return match against Havant & Waterlooville was called off an hour before kick-off due to heavy rain at the Silverlake.

Having been held 0-0 at Havant on Boxing Day, the in-form Spitfires were champing at the bit to face their bitter south coast rivals again.

"I'm really disappointed. Havant will be more pleased than us that it was off," said Baird. "We'd prepared ourselves really well. We'd had the lads in for two extra days over the holiday period so we could work on a couple of things and we were well up for it."

On a fair day Eastleigh would hope to have attracted a four-figure gate, so the postponement cost them dear in lost revenue.

"We've still got the match costs, the officials to pay and hospitality to provide," said director of football Dave Malone.

"We'd hoped to get 1,000-plus in today, but now it'll be a midweek game and you never get the same numbers.

"That said, it was the right decision to postpone it. Two or three seasons ago we played Basingstoke in similar conditions and it was a farce.

"The wet weather would have affected the crowd in any case."