Eastleigh are on the road for the second consecutive time in the league as they travel to The Chigwell Construction Stadium to face Dagenham & Redbridge in the 26th matchday of the Vanarama National League on Tuesday 17th January with a 7:45pm kick-off. Preview in association with Unibet.
Dagenham & Redbridge:
Dagenham and Redbridge will be hoping for a reaction following a defeat last time out with the 10-men Daggers being eliminated from the FA Trophy via a 2-0 defeat at home to Maidenhead United.
That defeat was the second consecutive loss at The Chigwell Construction Stadium for the hosts having lost to Woking in the league. Despite that form, the Daggers are on a run of three wins in their last four matches in the league which has seen them take over the precious seventh position, a spot the Spitfires briefly held.
Similarly to Eastleigh, the hosts have a striker in red-hot form and top scorer Josh Walker holds the same record as Lloyd having scored four goals in the last three league fixtures, including a brace against Aldershot Town which took his overall tally to 12 for the season.
Eastleigh:
Unlike the hosts, Eastleigh bounced back from a loss at Wealdstone to defeat Braintree Town 1-0 and progress into the fifth round of the FA Trophy thanks to a stunning goal from the club’s top scorer this season Danny Whitehall.
The Spitfires began 2023 with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Dorking Wanderers at the Silverlake Stadium which pushed Eastleigh into the playoff positions. However, it is the away form that has been the area of improvement all season and a 3-1 defeat at Wealdstone now sees the Spitfires in 10th position and two points adrift of their upcoming opponents.
Eastleigh will be without JJ McKiernan who has now returned to his parent club Watford following his loan spell.
Meanwhile fellow loanee, Alfie Lloyd has scored four of the Spitfires’ last six league goals and will be looking to score in his fourth consecutive league match to close the gap to Whitehall at the top of the scoring charts having now scored ten in all competitions.
Fixture History:
The head-to-head between the two sides is as close as the league table suggests as the two teams have faced off 12 times in their history.
Dagenham and Redbridge lead by one having won five of those matches, while Eastleigh have won four and the remaining three ending in stalemate.
The reverse fixture in August also ended in a draw thanks to a 93rd-minute equaliser from Charlie Carter to cancel out a Paul McCallum opener for the Daggers.
While last season’s two fixtures were both won by the away side.
Head-to-head (Last five):
16/08/22: Eastleigh 1-1 Dag & Red
22/03/22: Eastleigh 0-1 Dag & Red
23/11/21: Dag & Red 0-1 Eastleigh
13/04/21: Dag & Red 2-0 Eastleigh
26/01/21: Eastleigh 3-0 Dag & Red
By Sajidur Rahman
