The Spitfires return to the Silverlake Stadium to host table-topping Chesterfield, on Saturday 3rd February, with a kick-off time of 3:00pm.
Eastleigh:
Eastleigh have played their last two league fixtures on the road, where a midweek 4-4 draw at Boreham Wood was followed by a defeat at Altrincham.
Lewis Banks opened the scoring for Phil Parkinson’s side, before further goals from Regan Linney, Alex Newby and Chris Conn-Clarke ensured a comfortable Altrincham win.
The squad was bolstered during the week, as Ben Reeves arrived on a free transfer, alongside the loan additions of Ben Greenwood from Bournemouth and David Longe-King from Dagenham & Redbridge respectively.
Chesterfield:
The visitors are the league’s runaway leaders, and are currently 16 points clear of their nearest challengers, Bromley, with the added bonus of two games in hand.
The Spireites are the most in-form team in the league and have won their last five games in the National League.
Their most recent win was last weekend, where goals from James Berry, Joe Quigley and Armando Dobra helped them beat Southend United 3-0 at the SMH Group Stadium.
Previous Meetings:
Chesterfield have won four of the last five meetings between the two sides, including a 3-2 win over the Spitfires back in November.
The Spireites raced into a three-goal lead, as Ollie Banks netted a brace following Will Grigg’s opener.
Eastleigh set up a tense finish, as Paul McCallum and Scott Quigley both scored to reduce the deficit, but Chesterfield held on to claim the three points.
Eastleigh lost by the same scoreline away from home last season, despite Kairo Mitchell and Charlie Carter giving them a 2-0 lead at the half, Chesterfield roared back in the second half, with two goals from Ryan Colclough, and a last-gasp winner from Andrew Dallas stealing the win for Chesterfield.
However, the last meeting between the two sides at the Silverlake was back in October 2022, where it was the hosts who scored a late winner.
Ousseynou Cisse put Eastleigh ahead on the stroke of half-time before Liam Mandeville responded five minutes after the restart.
Brennan Camp climbed highest to head home a stoppage-time winner for the Spitfires in a memorable game.
25/11/23 | Chesterfield 3-2 Eastleigh | VNL
15/04/23 | Chesterfield 3-2 Eastleigh | VNL
08/10/22 | Eastleigh 2-1 Chesterfield | VNL
29/01/22 | Eastleigh 0-1 Chesterfield | VNL
26/10/21 | Chesterfield 1-0 Eastleigh | VNL
Preview by Tom Humphrey
