WHEN Eastleigh welcomed league leaders Cheltenham Town to the Silverlake Stadium on the first day of this month the Spitfires’ season was hanging by a thread.

The slump that dogged Chris Todd’s side following their FA Cup exit at Bolton Wanderers had turned into something potentially damaging, writes Paul McNamara.

February yielded a fruitless return from four league matches, all played away from the club’s Silverlake home.

With their previously imperious record on the road suffering a colossal dent, Eastleigh’s predicament was simple: turn it on back on their own patch, or watch their National League play-off ambitions go up in smoke.

And how Todd’s men responded. A spirited display was enough to do for Cheltenham then, following the blow of defeat at Braintree, Eastleigh returned home to secure three successive victories.

How wins over Woking, Chester and Bromley, in the space of eight frenetic days, have changed the face of the Spitfires’ campaign.

Languishing in tenth spot, six points adrift of the top-five prior to Cheltenham’s visit, Tuesday night’s 2-0 beating of Bromley completed a climb up to seventh in the table.

More important than their position right now, however, Todd’s men’s 62-point haul matches that of the three teams directly above them: Dover, Braintree and Tranmere.

After taking responsibility for battling back into promotion contention, though, the Spitfires, this weekend, are powerless to affect the ebb and flow that characterises the top end of non-League football.

Slated to play Halifax Town, Eastleigh’s trip to West Yorkshire has been shunted back to April 19, with Jim Harvey’s revitalised team in FA Trophy semi-final action on Saturday.

Spitfires’ minds, therefore, will be tuned in to what is happening at various football grounds across the country.

Braintree, the high-achieving minnow of the promotion chasing pack, take their turn in hosting Cheltenham.

Anything other than a defeat for Danny Cowley’s team will see them open up a points gap on Eastleigh, following what is effectively Braintree’s game in hand on Todd’s team.

Tranmere, who have already played one match more than the Spitfires’ 37, have the second toughest job in the division – if the table is to be believed.

The Merseysiders welcome Forest Green Rovers, two points behind Cheltenham in an enthralling all-Gloucestershire battle for the title, to Prenton Park.

Dover, meanwhile, who turned in a commanding performance on Tuesday night to demolish Lincoln City, travel to a Guiseley outfit keeping their necks just above the relegation dogfight.

Eastleigh romped to a 4-1 victory on a filthy afternoon at Nethermoor Park in November. Nevertheless, the Yorkshiremen’s gritty 2-2 midweek draw with third-placed Grimsby would suggest that Dover won’t have things all their own way up north.

Having re-emerged from the peloton themselves in recent weeks, the Spitfires will also be conscious of Wrexham and Gateshead, both in the Silverlake team’s slipstream.

Wrexham host Chester in what is unfailingly one of the National League’s most fractious affairs. Gateshead, like Wrexham three points behind the Spitfires, would expect to make up that gap with victory at second-bottom Welling.

One upside for Eastleigh of any Gateshead triumph in Kent is that a potentially deflated Welling are next to visit what Todd’s side are progressively turning into fortress Silverlake.

When that match kicks off at 3pm on Good Friday we will know if the Spitfires have lost any ground on their play-off rivals, through no fault of their own.

Even if that transpires to be the case, the belief is returning that Eastleigh can look after themselves.