CHRIS Todd dismissed the notion that his Eastleigh players are low on confidence after Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Lincoln left the Spitfires winless since December 19.

Todd’s side were on the end of a first-half blitz at Sincil Bank, with Matt Rhead, James Caton, spectacularly, and the excellent Jack Muldoon all on target for the home team, writes Paul McNamara.

But following a spell that saw his team draw each of their four league encounters before the weekend’s defeat, Todd is adamant that confidence is not an issue within the camp.

He said: “I don’t think that’s the case. The lads are confident lads. We’ve drawn quite a lot of games and we do say to the lads: ‘We need a win, we need a win’.”

“Maybe it is playing on their minds a little bit. But we have to be bigger than that. We have to be stronger as a unit to put that right.

“Whatever way we do it, we’ll have to do it sooner rather than later.”

Todd believed that Rhead’s 22nd-minute opener, scored when the Imps striker capitalised on some hesitant Eastleigh defending, was the game’s pivotal moment.

He said: “Goals change games. We were in the game and probably the better side in the first ten minutes.

“Then they counter-attacked and we switched off, which is unlike us. We didn’t react to the second ball and it was a great finish by their player.”

Despite the return from a two-game absence of 12-goal striker James Constable, the Spitfires were relatively toothless in attack in Lincolnshire and, with the loan market open for business on Tuesday, Todd is eager to bolster a squad currently missing some key performers.

“You’re working at it all the time,” said the Eastleigh boss. “Until that window opens on Tuesday, you never know if they will come off or not. You’re just hoping they will. But we keep working hard to get them over the line. It’s just getting them to say yes.

“There are always stumbling blocks, but we need to try and get over those and get some players in.”

One man who has been heavily linked with a move to Eastleigh is Portsmouth striker Matt Tubbs. And Todd revealed that efforts are ongoing to lure the former Salisbury City goal machine to the Silverlake Stadium.

He said: “Tubbsy is someone I’d like to get into the club. He scores goals and that’s what we need at the minute. But whether it will happen, who knows? “There are a lot of things you have to get right before that completes.”

Eastleigh will be without the suspended Jai Reason when they return to action at Kidderminster on Tuesday night. Midfielder Andy Drury, meanwhile, is a doubt for the fixture in Worcestershire after he limped off nursing a dead leg at Lincoln.

Todd is hopeful, however, that he will have one or two of recuperating trio Joe Partington, Yemi Odubade and Paul Reid available for a game that the manager can’t wait to get underway.

“There’s no time to worry or think about today,” he said. “You’re straight back into it again, ready for Tuesday. We’ve got to be better and I know we will be better.”