Eastleigh welcome Southend United to the Silverlake Stadium on Wednesday night, with the visitors looking to respond to their first defeat in six National League matches.
The Spitfires return home after a 4-1 defeat at Harrogate Town on Saturday. Jordan Cousins scored his first Eastleigh goal to make it 1-1 during the first half, but Harrogate pulled away after the break to leave Matt Gray’s side with four wins, two draws and four defeats from their opening ten league matches.
Eastleigh’s recent results have been mixed, with one win, one draw and three defeats from their last five league games. That sequence includes a 1-1 draw with unbeaten leaders Boreham Wood and a 1-0 home victory over Carlisle United, either side of defeats against Altrincham, Sutton United and Harrogate.
One consistent feature has been Eastleigh’s ability to find the net. The Spitfires have scored in eight consecutive National League matches since their 1-0 defeat at Kidderminster on 15 August. They are also unbeaten at the Silverlake in the league this season, taking 11 points from five home matches.
Southend arrive after their own setback at the weekend, when Barrow ended the Shrimpers’ five-match unbeaten run with a 4-2 victory at Roots Hall. Rekeem Harper and Seb Thompson put Barrow two ahead before Ryan Colclough pulled one back from the penalty spot, with an own goal and two further late strikes completing an eventful second half.
That defeat followed an impressive sequence for Southend. Kevin Maher’s side had beaten Yeovil Town, Tamworth and Gateshead and drawn with Woking and Carlisle during their previous five matches, scoring 15 goals along the way. Their 6-1 victory at Gateshead was their biggest league win of the season so far.
Southend have scored in all ten of their National League matches this season and have 25 goals, giving them one of the division’s strongest attacking records. They are also yet to lose away from Roots Hall in the league, making Wednesday’s fixture a meeting between two sides defending unbeaten home and away records respectively.
Recent meetings favour the Shrimpers. Southend have won six of the seven encounters between the clubs across the previous three seasons, including an FA Cup fourth qualifying round tie in October 2024. The exception came at the Silverlake last September, when Eastleigh won 2-1 before Southend responded with a 4-1 victory at Roots Hall in January.
Southend begin the evening fourth in the National League with 20 points from ten matches, having won six, drawn two and lost two. Eastleigh are 15th with 14 points from ten. With Eastleigh unbeaten at home and Southend unbeaten away, one of those records will be tested at the Silverlake on Wednesday night.
