Eastleigh chairman Stewart Donald admits he loves life more than ever at the Silverlake Stadium as they adapt to life in the Vanarama Conference.

The Bridle Insurance head has bankrolled the Spitfires since December 2011 and pumped cash into developments on and off the field.

Donald has overseen the Spitfires’ rise to the elite non-league ranks after winning the Conference South title last term.

And that promotion led to the transformation of their base on Stoneham Lane, which will soon have a capacity of more than 5,000, thanks to development on terracing and a new stand still being built behind one of the goals.

That off-field restructuring has been coupled with on-pitch changes. Richard Hill has brought in a number of players with huge experience of the national Conference.

That has been reflected with some impressive results and they are currently sitting 12th in the Conference with five wins, five draws and three defeats – just a few points off the play-off places.

Already this season they have rewritten Spitfires history. They appeared for the first time on live television when they welcomed Aldershot Town.

They smashed their home league attendance record on Tuesday night, hosting 2,612 at the Silverlake as they drew 1-1 with Bristol Rovers.

On top of that the Spitifres are playing for the first time at Conference national level and are ticking off fixtures with a number of big former Football League outfits, including three this week: Wrexham, Rovers and Barnet.

“It’s a learning curve for the club,” Donald said. “We’re always looking to improve off the pitch.”

After welcoming a record crowd, Donald is loving the direction the club is going and how the town is responding to them.

“The biggest thing, because the town’s responding, it gives you the feeling that you’re doing things right,” he said.

“And the fact that more and more people are coming down gives me enthusiasm to keep going.

“I’m loving it. Look at the games we’re playing, they’re against ex-league clubs. That’s what you’re in football for.”

After hosting Rovers, Donald said: “Bar the result it was as good as it could be.

“It was a record crowd, another first for us, so hopefully we sent a lot of people home happy. We are getting better prepared for these games as we go.

“The atmosphere was pretty good and we got everyone in safely, which is what we want.

“It was great to see just over 1500 home fans. Our average gates are just over 1500 now, so it’s good for little old Eastleigh.

“We’ve still got more to do. We’re trying to get closer to the community, get closer to the schools. Closer to the young football teams in the area.

“The town’s responding. If you look at the statistics from the league attendances from last year, our gates are up over 100 per cent. Only two or three clubs are even near that. We’re doing something right.”

And further improvements are just round the corner with the new stand’s completion just over a month away.