Match Preview | Eastleigh

About our opposition:

Nickname: The Spitfires

Founded: 1946

Stadium: Silverlake Stadium

Manager: Lee Bradbury

Top Scorer: Danny Whitehall (7)

League Position: 9^th

Form: DWLWW

Recent Result: Southend United 1-3 Eastleigh

One to watch: Danny Whitehall

The striker has scored 7 National League goals this season to help Eastleigh’s aim to finish in the play-offs this season. Whitehall started his career with Southport, Marine and Prescot Cables before moving to the USA. At Hastings College in Nebraska, he scored 93 goals in 75 appearances before moving back to England with Maidenhead United. Whitehall played 42 games for The Magpies, scoring 18 goals. That earned him a move to the Scottish Premiership with Kilmarnock. In August 2021 he would sign for Eastleigh where he has currently played 63 games.

In the dugout: Lee Bradbury

Lee Bradbury enjoyed a great playing career which saw him make over 500 appearances. He played for the likes of Portsmouth, Oxford United, Manchester City, Southend United and AFC Bournemouth. He would also start his managerial career with Bournemouth but left 14 months. He would then join Portsmouth, another one of his former clubs as a youth coach. In 2012 Bradbury became the manager of Havant & Waterlooville. He spent 7 seasons with The Hawks, which saw him win promotion to the National League South and win Manager of the Year. He would then join Crawley Town as assistant head coach before joining Eastleigh in February 2022 as manager.

Our last meeting: Barnet 3-1 Eastleigh

The Bees were 3-1 winners in our last encounter against The Spitfires. Harry Pritchard and Sean Shields put Barnet 2-0 up in the first half before a goal of the season contender from Rob Hall secured all three points in front of the BT Sport cameras. Eastleigh scored late on through Callum Ebanks but there was no time for a comeback.