SPITFIRES SET TO TAKE OFF AGAIN

BEN STREVENS says the topsy-turvy National League gives his Eastleigh inspiration to bounce back next season.

- Matt Badcock

The Spitfires reached the play-offs in 2018-19 where they lost out on penalties in the semi-finals to eventually promoted Salford City.

That off-season saw key players like Paul McCallum, Josh Hare, Joey Jones, and assist king Mark Yeates to depart and the Spitfires suffered.

Despite a solid start to the last campaign, and a run to the FA Cup second round where they forced a replay with Crewe Alexandra, the second half of the season was more patchy and they sat 17th when the season was abandoned.

Now Strevens has time to reflect and look at the likes of Boreham Wood who have shown their own mettle to put a down season out of their minds by pushing for promotion this time out.

“Last season I split into two halves,” Strevens told The NLP. “I felt the first half we looked like a very good team, following on from the year before, and we just didn’t convert enough draws into wins.

“The second half was really tough before all this happened. Our away form wasn’t as good as we would like, there was a lot of injuries defensively – Reda Johnson leaving was a blow and Rob Atkinson as well.

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