Eastleigh boss Ian Baird is calling on his shell-shocked Spitfires to ‘do a Leeds United’ in the wake of Saturday’s 3-0 opening day defeat at Boreham Wood.

Having splashed the cash on a host of quality signings during the summer, Baird is all too aware that the knives will out for his Blue Square Bet South title favourites if they don’t bounce back with a decent result against Basingstoke Town at the Silverlake Stadium tonight (7.45).

But as veteran of over 500 professional appearances as a player with the likes of Saints, Portsmouth, Leeds and Middlesbrough, the former striker is long enough in the tooth to know that such setbacks can quickly be overcome.

“Saturday’s result was massively disappointing and we know that the daggers are out and everyone wants to criticise,” he said.

“But like I said to the players, I was in the Leeds United side that won the (old Second Division) championship in 1989-90 and on the first day of the season we got beat 5-2 away at Newcastle – and it should have been 15-2.

“That put the pressure on for the next game at home to Middlesbrough and we scraped a 2-0 win and went from there.

“It’s the same for Eastleigh. If we get a result tonight, Saturday will soon be forgotten about.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day and we always knew we would have our ups and downs. But we’ll be okay as long as we stick together and learn to deal with the fact that, because of all the speculation and diatribe about us, sides will raise their game against us week in, week out.

“We were poor defensively on Saturday and conceded three horrendous goals. But it’s not about pointing fingers and blaming the defenders. We defend as a team and we attack as a team.”

Basingstoke won their opening fixture 2-1 against Paul Doswell ’s Sutton United, but manager Jason Bristow expects his beaten play-off semi-finalists to face a stern test tonight.

“Eastleigh have begun the season as favourites and it will be a tough game – possibly more so now they have lost because they will be really fired up to get the win,” he predicted.

“It is the perfect game for us in a lot of ways though. We do not have to worry about getting the lads up for it.”

Basingstoke striker Delano Sam-Yorke is available tonight after missing Saturday through suspension. However, he may have to settle for a place on the bench after ex-Spitfire Jordace Holder-Spooner maintained his prolific pre-season form with a goal on Saturday.

Eastleigh are again likely to be without Gary Elphick (cracked ribs), Mark Hughes and Lee Peacock (both broken foot bone), the honeymooning Dale Binns and Osei Sankofa who is on his way back to fitness after slipping off a kerb.