FC Halifax Town v Eastleigh preview

Venue: The Shay

Date: Saturday, April 29

Kick-off: 5.30pm

Referee: Dean Watson is in his first season refereeing at National League level, and has shown 18 yellow cards and one red card in six matches this season at this level. He took charge of Town's 1-0 win at Oldham in February, sending off an Oldham player and awarding Halifax a penalty.

Odds: Halifax win 11/10, draw 9/4, Eastleigh win 5/2

In the league this season

Halifax: PL45 W16 D12 L17 F48 A47 GD1 Pts60

Eastleigh: PL45 W19 D9 L17 F55 A56 GD-1 Pts66

Last five games

Halifax: York (a) W 3-0, Maidstone (h) W 3-0, Bromley (h) D 1-1, Dag & Red (a) D 0-0, Woking (a) W 1-0

Eastleigh: Torquay (a) L 2-0, Aldershot (h) D 3-3, Gateshead (h) L 5-2, Chesterfield (a) L 3-2, Solihull Moors (h) D 0-0

Scorers

Halifax: Mani Dierseruvwe (14), Milli Alli (11), Rob Harker (9), Jamie Cooke (6), Harvey Gilmour (3), Jordan Slew (2), Kian Spence (2), Jesse Debrah (2), Matty Warburton (2), Tylor Golden (2), Jamie Stott (2), Angelo Capello, Festus Arthur, Yamen Osawe

Eastleigh: Daniel Whitehall (15), Charlie Carter (11), JJ McKiernan (5), Alfie Lloyd (5), Tristan Abrahams (5), Vincent Harper (4), Ousseynou Cisse (3), Kairo Mitchell (3), Ryan Hill (2), Brendan Camp, Jake Scrimshaw, Callum Ebanks, Michael Kelly, George Langston, Gerry McDonagh, Christian Maghoma

Manager: Lee Bradbury was assistant manager at Crawley before succeeding Ben Strevens at Eastleigh in February last year. The former Portsmouth, Crystal Palace and Manchester City forward previously managed Bournemouth and Havant and Waterlooville.

Last season: 19th in National League

One to watch: Striker Kairo Mitchell earned a move to Chesterfield are an impressive spell at King's Lynn. He joined Eastleigh on loan from Notts County and has found a bit of form at the end of the season, scoring three goals in his last five games.

Head-to-head: Played 16, Halifax wins 4, draws 5, Eastleigh wins 7

Last time they met: Charlie Carter scored the only goal of the game as Eastleigh won at the Silverlake Stadium back in September.

Match facts: Halifax have only lost once in their last 14 games.

A win will guarantee Halifax a top ten finish unless Oldham beat Bromley and score two more goals than The Shaymen.

Eastleigh are without a win in five away games, failing to score in three of them.

Halifax have taken 17 points from the last 21 available, winning five of their last seven games.

Eastleigh are without a win in their last six matches.

Town have only lost once in their last eight home matches.

Town keeper Sam Johnson and Eastleigh keeper Joe McDonnell both have the highest number of clean sheets in the National League this season (17).

Saturday's National League fixtures:

Torquay v Wrexham

Gateshead v Maidenhead

Notts Co v York

Barnet v Dag & Red

Southend v Wealdstone

Aldershot v Altrincham

Boreham W v Yeovil

Oldham v Bromley

Chesterfield v Maidstone

Halifax v Eastleigh

Dorking W v Scunthorpe

Solihull M v Woking