Eastleigh v Maidenhead - Match Preview

Match Preview by Kieran James

Ian Baird’s Spitfires will play Maidenhead United tomorrow in the Blue Square Bet South at the Silverlake Stadium, 3pm kick off.

Eastleigh’s last result in the league proved to be successful as they picked up three points in a 3-1 win away at Thurrock.

Jamie Slabber put the Spitfires 0-1 up in the 26th minute, but the hosts pegged Eastleigh back when Drewe Broughton equalised for the home side just after the hour mark.

The game looked to be heading for a draw with the scores still level late in the game, but in the 89th minute Thurrock’s goalkeeper David Hughes had an embarrassing moment to forget after conceding an own goal.

Jamie Slabber then found the back of the net with his second and Eastleigh's third of the afternoon in stoppage time to secure all three points. The result sees Eastleigh move further away from the bottom three and are now just three points from tenth place.

The Magpies have got off to a mixed start to the season, similarly to Eastleigh, and sit just one place above Eastleigh in 17th place having won five games in the league (the same as Baird's side).

Maidenhead’s last game was away to Godalming Town, who are in the Ryman Division One South league (two leagues below Maidenhead), in the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round.

The Magpies thrashed the Surrey side 0-5 with left back Leon Solomon scoring a hat-trick. Johnson Hippolyte's side were rewarded with a draw in the FA Cup First Round Proper where they will play nPower League 2 side Aldershot Town, home at York Road on the 12th November.

The last time these two teams met was at York Road, where it is acknowledged by the FA and FIFA as the oldest continuously-used senior association football ground in the world with the Magpies playing there since 1871.

Maidenhead won 1-0 in Eastleigh’s only game in hand in the 2010/11 run-in to the end of the season. A win for Eastleigh would have seen the Spitfires in to the play-offs. Former Eastleigh midfielder Will Hendry scored the only goal of the game with a great header.

The last time these two teams met at the Silverlake Stadium, Eastleigh ran out 3-0 winners.

Brett Williams (now at Reading FC) scored a brace in the space of two minutes with a volley and pinpoint header from a Jamie Slabber cross.

Richard Gillespie then secured all three points for the Spitfires on that occasion with a great finish.

Dorchester Town’s Chris Flood is likely to be in the squad tomorrow for Eastleigh after announcing on Twitter that he trained with the club last night. The loan is scheduled for an initial one month.

This comes just one day after the 21-year-old winger went on the transfer list at Dorchester following the departure of manager and former Eastleigh player Ashley Vickers.

The former Salisbury City player, who made more than fifty appearances scoring nine goals for The Whites in the Conference Premier, signed a two year deal with Crawley Town for £10,000 last year.

He then went on to sign for Dorchester in February 2011 after a successful loan spell and scored 11 goals.

Jamie Brown is suspended for tomorrows game after receiving the maximum number of yellow cards so this signing is a smart piece of business from Ian Baird.

COME ON YOU SPITFIRES!

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