Eastleigh v FC Halifax Town preview

Venue: Silverlake Stadium

Date: Saturday, April 20

Kick-off: 12.15pm

Referee: Stephen Parkinson has shown 79 yellow cards and two red cards in 22 games this season. He was in charge for Town's 1-1 draw at York in October and Eastleigh's 1-0 defeat at Bromley in September and their 2-1 home win over Broreham Wood in November.

Odds: Eastleigh 9/4, draw 14/5, Halifax 10/11

In the league this season

Eastleigh: 12th - PL45 W16 D11 L18 F73 A84 GD-11 Pts59

Halifax: 7th - PL45 W18 D14 L13 F55 A50 GD5 Pts68

Last five games

Eastleigh: Woking (a) W 1-0, Maidenhead (h) L 3-2, York (a) W 1-0, Kidderminster (a) W 1-0, Wealdstone (a) W 1-0

Halifax: York (h) D 1-1, Kidderminster (a) W 2-0, Barnet (h) L 2-0, Ebbsfleet (h) D 0-0, Oldham (h) D 2-2

Scorers

Eastleigh: McCallum (35), Maguire (14), Quigley (11), Boldewijn (6), Francillette (4), Taylor (3), Nwabuokei (2), Harris (2), Barlow, Clements, Croll, Dotse, Reeves, Carter, Atangana

Halifax: Harker (8), Alli (7), Wright (6), Hoti (5), Summerfield (4), Senior (4), Oluwabori (4), Cosgrave (4), Cooke (2), George (2), Thomson-Sommers, Evans, Cummings, Keane, Cappello, Golden, Hunter, Stott

Manager: Former Premier League goalkeeper Kelvin Davis was appointed as Eastleigh's new manager to replace Richard Hill in February. Davis, who made over 600 professional appearances, including for Southampton, Wimbledon, Sunderland and Ipswich, had a brief spell at caretaker-manager at Southampton in 2018 but this is his first permanent senior managerial role.

Last season: 10th in National League

One to watch: Striker Paul McCallum is in his second spell with the Spitfires, having previously made 67 appearances for the club, scoring 35 goals between 2017 and 2019. He scored ten goals last season for Dagenham and Redbridge, having netted 20 times the season before, and will finish the season as the National League's top scorer.

Head-to-head: Played 18, Eastleigh wins 8, draws 6, Halifax wins 4

Last time they met: Two goals by Paul McCallum and a penalty from Chris Maguire put Eastleigh 3-0 up at The Shay in September before Town nearly fought back for a point with goals from Florent Hoti and Jordan Keane.

Match facts: Eastleigh have won four of their last five games, with each of those victories being 1-0 wins.

The Spitfires haven't conceded a goal in four-and-a-half hours of football.

Only bottom side Oxford City have conceded more goals in the National League this season than Eastleigh (84) while no team has conceded more goals at home in the fifth tier this season than The Spitfires (42)

Only Solihull and Chesterfield have won more away games in the fifth tier this season than Halifax (10)

Eastleigh have only failed to score once in their last 17 home matches.

Eastleigh have scored three or more goals in a game 11 times this season.

Only Bromley have conceded fewer goals on the road in the National League this season than The Shaymen (23)

Halifax will guarantee themselves a seventh-placed finish if they win on Saturday. If they draw, they will need Aldershot not to win at Dagenham and Redbridge and if they lose, they will need Aldershot to also lose and Southend not to win at home to Rochdale. Eastleigh can only finish between 11th and 14th.

Saturday's National League fixtures

Woking v Fylde

Gateshead v Bromley

Barnet v Kidderminster

Southend v Rochdale

Altrincham v Oxford C

Boreham W v Ebbsfleet

Oldham v Wealdstone

Chesterfield v Maidenhead

Eastleigh v Halifax

Dorking W v Hartlepool

Solihull M v York

Dag & Red v Aldershot