TONY Lee whetted the appetite of AFC Totton fans by plundering a hat-trick in Tuesday's 7-2 Red Insure Cup rout of Bashley.

But the bad news for the Testwood Stadium faithful is that the dual-signed Eastleigh striker is unlikely to feature in Saturday's Southern One South & West home showdown against Banbury United.

The Spitfires are able to name seven substitutes for their FA Cup tie at Bromley, so it’s likely that Lee and Totton’s fellow Eastleigh loanee Jack Alexander will be named on the bench for Chris Todd’s National League side.

With Craig Feeney jetting off to Australia and Nathaniel Sherborne in some discomfort with tendonitis, the Stags could have done with Lee’s presence up front this weekend.

But manager Steve Hollick accepts that Eastleigh’s needs come first and is extremely grateful to new boss Todd for sending Millbrook lad Lee his way.

“That kid can play a bit!” smiled the Totton boss. “He really impressed us last season when he was on loan at Tiverton. That’s when he hit our radar.

“For a lad of his age, he works so hard and is good in the air. I totally understand why Eastleigh would have him.

“I tried to get him in pre-season, but he turned us down to stay with Eastleigh which was a good decision from him.

“I’ve kept in touch with Tony this season while he's been on loan at Dorchester, and when it transpired that the opportunity might be there to sign him I got in touch with Chris Todd - and what a nice guy he is.

“Bearing in mind it was the week he’d just taken over as manager, Chris was really helpful and suggested we could get Jack Alexander involved as well. It’s nice to have that connection with Eastleigh.

“If Eastleigh don’t need Tony and Jack, they’ll be with us, but Chris did pre-warn me that he’d probably be taking them for the FA Cup.”

Sherborne’s tendonitis is around the spot where he suffered a broken ankle. “Where he’s been playing constantly, he’s overworked it a bit and it’s causing a few problems,” Hollick explained.

“It was a bad injury Sherbs had and we’ve got to be a bit protective of it. We don’t want to ruin it for later life.”

With Mark Lilley still a week or two away from fitness, Taylor Edwards is likely to lead the line tomorrow against a Banbury side whose nine-game unbeaten run was abruptly halted 4-0 at Winchester City last Saturday. The Puritans, though, bounced back in style on Wednesday, holding league leaders North Leigh to a 1-1 draw.