Eastleigh

Eastleigh FC is a professional football club based in the town of Eastleigh, which is located between the cities of Winchester and Southampton in the south coast county of Hampshire. The football club was formed on the 22nd May 1946 as Swaythling Athletic FC, which was soon amended to Swaythling FC.

The meeting took place at the Fleming Arms public house and was led by Derik Brooks and a group of friends. Matches initially took place on Southampton Common and then at Westfield in Swaythling before moving to Walnut Avenue.

In 1950 the club joined the Hampshire League and moved to a new ground at Ten Acres in 1957. The club continued playing in the Hampshire League as they changed their name to Eastleigh FC in 1980.

The Wessex League was formed in 1986 and Eastleigh became founder members. After a series of top half finishes the club made an inspired appointment when Paul Doswell became the team manager.

In 2002-03 ‘The Spitfires’ were crowned as Wessex League champions and promoted to the Southern League Division One East. Their debut season ended in a fourth place finish, but the club struck lucky as non-league football was re-organised in the summer of 2006, with Eastleigh being placed in the Isthmian League Premier Division for 2006-07.

The club’s magnificent run continued as a new stand was built at Ten Acres with the team matching the off the field work, reaching the play-offs where they defeated Braintree Town before beating Leyton 1-0 in the final to win promotion to the Conference South.

Further ground developments took place in the summer of 2006 before Doswell departed in December of that year to be replaced by Jason Dodd who lasted until the end of the season. A brief spell from David Hughes ensued before former Leeds United and Southampton striker Ian Baird came as team boss in October 2007.

His side just missed out on the play-offs in his first season in charge before they finished in third spot in 2008-09. However they went out in the play-off semi-final on aggregate to Hayes & Yeading United.

After a couple of further seasons of mid table finishes Baird was replaced by Richard Hill who’s side reached the play-offs at the end of the 2012-13 campaign after the club had been bought by Bridle Insurance. It was to be disappointment once again as Dover Athletic ended the promotion hopes with a penalty shoot out win in the semi-final.

Bridle Insurance vowed to have Ten Acres up to Football League standard within five years as well as looking to improve the playing squad, partly through the Witney based Glenn Hoddle football academy and their links with Oxford United where they were primary sponsors.

Hill led Eastleigh to the Conference South title in 2013-14 and promotion to then titled Conference League. The season saw the team reach the second round of the FA Cup in 2014-15 as Kidderminster Harriers and Lincoln City were defeated before the Spitfires went out away to Southport.

The good form carried on throughout the season as the Spitfires reached the play-offs where they were defeated in the semi-final stage by Grimsby Town. Ten Acres was renamed The Silverlake Stadium in a sponsorship deal.

The Conference was renamed the National League for the 2015-16, with manager Hill resigning in September 2015 as Chris Todd took over team affairs who took the side on another fine FA Cup run.

Wins over Bromley, Crewe Alexandra and Stourbridge set up a third round home tie against Bolton Wanderers, which attracted a record attendance to the ever improving Ten Acres. The Spitfires went out 3-2 at the Macron Stadium following a 1-1 draw.

The team ended the season in seventh place but a poor start to the 2016-17 campaign saw Todd dismissed with former Tranmere Rovers and Rotherham United manager Ronnie Moore heading to the Silverlake as his replacement.

Moore lasted just three months before he resigned. Manager of many clubs, Martin Allen arrived from Barnet lured by the potential at Eastleigh. His reign in the league was considered somewhat of a disaster as he was dismissed less than three months later.

Away from their poor league form, Eastleigh once again had a magnificent FA Cup run. North Leigh, Swindon Town and FC Halifax Town were dispatched as the club reached the third round for the first ever time; eventually going out 5-1 at Griffin Park to Brentford.

Former manager Richard Hill returned to the club to try and change fortunes in February 2017 as the side ended the campaign in fifteenth position.

Eastleigh FC will play in the National League in the 2017-18 season.

My visit

Eastleigh 1 Wrexham 1 (Saturday 29^th April 2017) National League (att: 2,588)

It was the previous Tuesday night before I had any inkling that I’d be heading to the Silverlink Stadium on the final day of the National League season. My own club Scarborough Athletic were playing the semi-final of the play-offs and if they won I’d be heading up north at the weekend.

To add to the equation I also had an advanced cheap flight to Glasgow and a hotel room that I’d booked before the cut off fixtures had been decided. They had not been kind and were drifting from my list of favourites.

As it transpired Boro were beaten 3-1 at home to Ossett Town. This opened up the chance to head to Eastleigh for their 12.15 start and then get to St Mary’s for 3pm for the Southampton v Hull City clash.

With my ticket booked online for the City away section I managed to get some very good value South West Train tickets via Megabus. I bought my match ticket online for £12 and was all set to go on Saturday morning.

My train was at 9.39 from Waterloo. Despite a convivial Friday evening, I was in good form and really looking forward to my day out. I’d bought a return train ticket for the midweek Eastleigh home game against Macclesfield Town which offered free admission. I didn’t go in the end as Hendon had a vital re-arranged home game on the same date.

The service ran perfectly to time as I alighted at Eastleigh station at 11.00. I wandered outside and awaited the Bluestar 2 bus, which was also prompt. The driver explained that the St Nicholas Church stop by the ground was not available as the road was closed.

There was no need to worry as several Spitfires fans were on board. I jumped off on the main road by the Concorde Club and then walked down Stoneham Lane for five minutes to the stadium entrance.

I found the ticket office by the turnstile and picked mine up before being directed to the bar by a steward after picking up a programme for £3. There seemed to be a bit of confusion as to how to get to the bar as I went through the turnstile before going through the club shop to find it.

It turned out that it was part of a new two storey building which was opened for the first time. The shop was one more in keeping with a League club and the bar was spotless. Unfortunately, the hand pumps were not yet in use so I had to do with a bottle of Speckled Hen Gold.

Going by reactions it would seem that the locals were very happy with their new facility. It would be open during the week for snacks as well as each Sunday for dinner. A club official was on hand to answer questions.

Outside the ground was quite impressive too. The near end apparently had its roof removed. It was a modern terrace with the upper floor looking out to the pitch to enable the club to sell corporate packages. The far side had a low covered terrace. The near side with the raised seated Silverlake Stand flanked by open standing and club portakabins. The far end had a large semi-permanent seated stand.

Further plans for the stadium were unveiled in the programme. The next stage would be an extension of the Silverlake Stand as seated tickets had been at a premium. All in all Eastleigh seemed a very well organised and progressive club.

However, while all was good off the pitch, the product on it was abysmal during the first forty five minutes. It was typical end of season fare from both sides. Neither goalkeeper really had too much to do with most of the play being scrappy and in the middle third.

Indeed, the highlight of the first half came when I purchased a massive feast of a Swiss Burger; a burger topped with cheese and mushroom, chips and a Bovril. It cost £6 but it was pretty good and filling. A nice touch was a bowl of raw onion for patrons to help themselves.

In the second half I initially took up my previous position on the covered terrace near the half way line. Almost immediately the visitors took the lead to break the boredom. Iffy Allen’s shot was deflected across the box to Jordan White who slotted home.

The goal awoke Eastleigh from their slumber. Sam Matthews came close with a curling effort from the edge of the box. Manager Hill brought on crowd favourite striker James Constable, and he got involved in some of the best moments.

With sixteen minutes later he broke down the right hand side to put in a low cross for forward partner Matt Tubbs to put away the chance. Wrexham claimed that Constable had fouled James Jennings to initially win the ball, but referee Carl Brook wasn’t convinced.

Constable later had an opportunity to fire home but he dallied and instead tried to set up a team mate, only for the Red Dragons defenders to clear. By this point I’d moved to the open terrace behind the goal to watch the last of my action, while keeping a close eye on scores elsewhere.

Scarborough’s local rivals York City were involved in a relegation scrap with Guiseley. Their games were changing scores, with no-one quite sure who would be dropping to the National North.

With around six or seven minutes left on the clock I had to depart to make sure that I caught the 2.02 bus from the Concorde Club to Southampton city centre. Reading the Eastleigh Twitter account it transpired that I didn’t miss an awful lot.

The news from elsewhere was that a last minute goal for Guiseley had relegated York. Meanwhile my comment on Twitter that my game featured a very poor first half got a reply that if I thought that was bad I should have seen the football under Martin Allen.

The mind boggled!