Eastleigh to give youth a chance

By Wendy Gee - 

THE average age of Eastleigh's squad will be lowered at third-placed Welling United tomorrow.

Manager Ian Baird had pledged to give some promising young guns an end-of-season run-out if the Spitfires amassed a healthy points haul over Easter.

In the event they gathered just one out of six in the Blue Square Bet South, following a 1-0 home defeat by Dorchester with a 0-0 stalemate at Weston-super-Mare.

But, with senior trio Damian Scannell, Chris Flood and Jamie Brown all injured, Baird has opted to give youth a chance against a Welling side already guaranteed a play-off berth.

The manager confirmed on Monday that Scannell would not play again this season due to an ankle injury and the same now goes for Flood who needs complete rest after playing with a hip/groin problem.

Brown is also sidelined after hurtling into a pitch-side hoarding at Weston and banging his knee.

"We've got nothing to play for now so it's a good opportunity to throw the young lads in," said Baird.

Sam and Ben Wilson, who have both had a taster of Conference South experience, will be named in the squad along with frontrunner Matt Gray who has impressed in the reserves.

"Matt's only 16 or 17 and he's very small in stature, but he's got tremendous ability," said Baird.

 

Eastleigh may also give a run-out to Hull City-bound centre-back Will Aimson, who is due to sign a one-year scholarship with the Championship outfit.

 

"Will's deal hasn't been concluded yet, it's how slow professional clubs are at times," said Baird. "He's played for our Wyvern League side this week and may well come to Welling.

 

"My plan is to start with one, or maybe even two, of the youngsters. I'd like to play more of them like Fergie's Babes, but you've got to try and feed them in slowly.

 

We fed Liam Hibberd (now of Fareham Town) in last year, but it didn't mean he went on to become an Eastleigh player. It's a fine line.

 

"But we do have young players in the side - at right back (Mitchell Nelson, 22) left-back Michael Green, 22) and up-front (Bradley Bubb, 23)."

 

Eastleigh convincingly beat Welling 3-0 at the Silverlake in October - a result that kick-started a run of four wins in five league games. But their chances of completing a double may depend on how many players the Wings are saving for the play-offs.