With no Saints match this weekend the big match is taking place at the Silverlake Stadium with The Spitfires taking on Southport FC and there is a Saints connection.

Its non league day and what better way to support that then pop along to watch Pompey's nearest rivals Eastleigh FC as they take on Southport in the Conference Premier Division in the revamped Silverlake Stadium in Stoneham Lane.

Eastleigh have made great strides in recent years and now have the financial backing to push them forwards and with the squad they have they have a good chance of making a bid to get promoted to League 2 and meet Pompey on a level footing.

On Saturday they face Southport who themselves were a Football league club up until 1978 when they became the last club to lose league status by failing to gain re election, that was of course before automatic promotion came into being.

Back then they were managed by Hugh Fisher who was substitute for Saints when they won the cup in 1976, sadly two years later and it was despair for him.

Another ex Saint to manage the Sandgrounders was Mark Wright who began his managerial career at Haig Avenue or the Merseyrail Community Stadium as it is now known before leaving to manage Oxford United.

Eastleigh will start the game as favourites despite the Conference pedigree of the visitors, they have made a decent start and sit 9th with 10 points from their opening 6 games whereas Southport are 16th with only 5 points, however their last game was a 2-0 defeat to runaway leaders Barnet and prior to that a last minute equaliser by Telford cost them all three points so the table could have been a lot closer.

Hopefully The Spitfires will benefit from the lack of Premier League games with a bumper crowd, even when Saints are away it is still difficult to bring Saints fans in with the games being shown in various pubs around the City on foreign channels, but this weekend with no Premier games to compete with it is the chance to try and get some of those supporters in to the ground and persuade them to come back again.

The Silverlake Stadium is much improved of late, apart from an impressive main stand it has a small covered terrace behind one goal and a long covered terrace along one side, at the far end of the ground there are the foundations of a stand currently being built with completion due in the next month or so, when that is complete the ground will be virtually up to League Standard, something that might come in handy if Eastleigh play to their potential this season.

Those who do go can also visit the Clubhouse, just about the only thing remaining from the old ground of a few years ago, spacious it offers the usual fare of food and drink with the chance to follow the rest of the days action on soccer saturday.

All this for the cheap price of £12 for adults an amazing price for a standard of football that is only one division below the football league with senior citizens and students £7.50, kids under 16 £4 and the under 7's free.

Getting There

By Train

The closest station to the stadium is Southampton Airport Parkway, which as the crow flies is only about half a mile away from the ground. Southampton Airport Parkway station is served by trains from Southampton & London Waterloo.

It is around a 20 minute walk to the ground from Airport Parkway station. Turn right out of the main entrance and proceed along the road, passing the University of Southampton sports fields on your left. Then take the next left hand turn and follow the road through the Lakeside Country Park. At the end of this road continue straight along the pathway at the back of the car park and this will bring you out at the top of Stoneham Lane near to the Concorde Club. Cross the pedestrian crossing in front of you and turn left along Stoneham Lane. You will reach the entrance to the stadium further down on the left'.

By Car
Leave the M27 at Junction 5 and take the Stoneham Lane exit towards Eastleigh. You will pass the back of stadium on your left. Continue to the end of the road and at the roundabout go completely around the roundabout to come back on yourself, back towards the motorway. Just as you pass the Concorde Club on your left turn right into Stoneham Lane. The entrance to the ground is around the bend on the left. There is a good sized car park at the ground which holds 500 cars, which is free.

Eastleigh FC

Photo: Action Images

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