EXPERIENCED midfielder Ben Strevens has been appointed Eastleigh’s assistant manager for the rest of the season.

It follows boss Chris Todd’s decision to part company with No2 Shaun North on Friday - just 24 hours before a 1-0 victory over Chester propelled the Spitfires right back into the Vanarama National League play-off hunt.

Todd, who is targeting a third home win in eight days against Bromley tomorrow (Tuesday, 7.45pm), invited Strevens onto his coaching team when he first took over the managerial reins from Richard Hill in September.

But, until now, the 35-year-old former Dagenham & Redbridge and Wycombe Wanderers man has concentrated mainly on his playing role.

However, Strevens is currently out of the side, having just passed the halfway point of a weighty seven-match suspension.

“Strevs is someone who has helped out, but I wanted him a bit more involved,” Todd explained. “It’s good he’s accepted the job until the end of the season and we'll see where we go from there.”

Todd was reluctant to expand on his decision to part company with former Cheltenham and Bristol Rovers coach North, who had joined him at the Silverlake helm in mid-October.

“I’m doing it for the best of the club, myself and the players,” he said.

“It was something I wasn’t happy with, it just didn’t work.

“Sometimes you have to make big calls and I’ve done that. It’s the way of the industry. As one door closes, another opens.”

Todd, who played for North when he was No2 at Torquay United, is in his first managerial post, but the affable 34-year-old Welshman will not shy away from making tricky decisions.

“There’s no point being in the hot-seat if you don’t make big decisions,” he said. “You won’t always get them right, but if I don’t think something’s working I will make changes.

“I thank Shaun for his time and effort at the club, he worked hard, but you have to move on because that’s football.”

Eastleigh, just two points outside the play-off zone in eighth, have flourished back on home soil after losing all four February games on the road.

“The time we were in a bad patch, we never played a home game and it knocks you right out of your rhythm,” said Todd.

“We’ve got that rhthym back now and a win tomorrow will be even better.

“We’ve got to keep delivering and stay positive.”

Strevens and Paul Reid (suspended) and Andy Drury (injured) all miss tomorrow's game against the 11th-placed Ravens, but top scorer James Constable trained today having missed the Chester win with a sore thigh.

“It’s good to have Beano back whether he starts or he’s on the bench,” said Todd.

Sub Bradley Goldberg scored twice in Bromley's 2-0 home win over Guiseley on Saturday. The Ravens have loaned Stevenage winger Rohdell Gordon for the remainder of the season.