RONNIE Moore quipped that even if someone came in with a £1 million bid for Eastleigh’s hot property Luke Coulson, chairman Stewart Donald would turn it down.

Moore’s soaring Spitfires take on National League promotion rivals Dagenham & Redbridge at the Silverlake on Saturday with man-of-the-moment Coulson looking to extend a stunning run of six goals in four games.

Eastleigh splashed out an undisclosed club record fee for the ex-Manchester City youth player when they signed him on a two-and-a-half year deal from Oxford City in January.

The 22-year-old’s stock is rising rapidly, but Moore has no concerns about losing him even though he reckons Coulson could walk into the Football League tomorrow.

The versatile wideman sparkled under the Stoneham Lane floodlights on Tuesday, scoring twice as the Spitfires outclassed Maidstone 3-0 in front of a 4,114 free-entry crowd.

It stretched their unbeaten run to ten games, catapulting them into the play-off zone, just two points adrift of Dagenham whose 1-0 defeat at Torquay dropped them from first to third.

Both Coulson goals were absolute stunners and Moore is just grateful to have a chairman like Donald fighting Eastleigh’s corner as the No15’s reputation blossoms.

“We’re lucky to have the chairman we’ve got,” he said.

“I think if someone came in with £1 million to sign Couls, he wouldn’t let him go!

“Couls is a good find for Eastleigh. He's a constant threat.

“He’s as good as anything at this level and, certainly League Two, that I’ve seen.

“He’s a young kid and he can play where he wants to eventually. He’s learning every time.

“He’s got that little change of pace and can play wide left, wide right, in midfield or in the ‘10’ role.

“We want players making us better rather than letting them go. I’m thankful we’ve got a chairman who will back us on that one.”

Both teams are missing key men on Saturday for what Moore rates "a massive game."

Daggers skipper Scott Doe begins a three-match ban after being sent off after 15 minutes at Torquay, while Eastleigh's giant centre-back Reda Johnson picked up two yellow cards against Maidstone, ruling him out just when Moore needs him most.

With captain Ryan Cresswell "touch and go" with a calf problem and Connor Essam and Ayo Obileye out on loan, Moore will have to shift Joe Partington inside from right-back to partner Adam Dugdale if his skipper doesn't make it.

"Cress hasn't trained today and probably won't tomorrow, it might be a Saturday morning decision," said the boss.

"Reda's back next week, so it's not worth bringing in a loan signing for one game, but it's a pity we've lost him for this one. Dagenham like to bomb on, they've got a big 6ft 4in centre-forward (Oliver Hawkins) and we could have done without Reda being an idiot.

"I'm getting my prayer mat out and hoping Cress will be alright. We've already got four missing in Reda, Andy Drury (calf), Jake Howells (hamstring) and Scott Wilson (hamstring).

"James Granger's left Poole and he'll sit on the bench if we register him again. One minute we had 27 players and now we're bang on the button of 16.

"I had five centre-backs, now I've got three, and it's sod's law Reda's suspension has had to fall on this game."