WHEN Scott Wilson picked up the Vanarama National League player-of-the-month award for September, it was inevitable some Eastleigh fans were asking: “Why on earth did we let him go?”

The answer, as the Spitfires prepare to face their former marksman at high-riding Macclesfield Town on Saturday, is that they didn’t. It was Wilson’s own decision to leave Stoneham Lane.

Richard Hill – Wilson’s fourth manager of a turbulent 2016/17 season at the Silverlake – had a meeting set up with the 24-year-old prior to drawing up his May retained list.

But Wilson, who had joined the Spitfires on a one-year contact from Weston-super-Mare the previous summer, sent a message through player-coach Ben Strevens that he wouldn’t be attending.

“Who knows if Scott Wilson would still have been an Eastleigh player if he’d turned up to that meeting. Only I know the answer to that,” said Hill.

“But he decided not to meet me – and I’m not having a go at him for that. It was his choice to leave the club, no one else’s. It was his right.

“Once a player is 24, freedom of contract means they can sign for whoever they want.”

With six league goals to his name this season, Wilson has actually scored one fewer than Eastleigh’s leading marksman Ben Williamson.

And while a gulf of 13 points exists between the second-placed Silkmen and the 17th-placed Spitfires, the two clubs have an identical ‘goals for’ tally of 18, while Eastleigh have conceded 18 to Macclesfield’s 16.

Both will be looking to bounce back from midweek defeats at Moss Rose on Saturday.

Macclesfield’s magnificent five-match winning league streak was halted 1-0 at Dagenham & Redbridge, while Hill’s Spitfires are licking their wounds after a 2-1 home loss to rock-bottom Solihull Moors.

Asked about the atmosphere in the camp, Hill said: “We’re a bit bruised, but if the staff look grumpy and down, that’s how the players will feel when they come in for training and no one wants to come to work if it’s miserable. We’ve tried to make it informative and lighten the mood a bit.

“Nobody plays badly on purpose and it’s not as if the players aren’t trying. If that was the case, you wouldn’t get what happened against Gateshead last week when we were 2-0 up, took a couple of punches on the nose and still found a late winner – that’s not a group of players who aren’t trying."

Right-back Gavin Hoyte sits out the last of a three-match suspension this weekend, while Sam Wood (groin), Michael Green (foot) and striker Paul McCallum (foot) are struggling.

Wood pulled out in the warm-up before the Solihull game and Hill rued: “That’s all you need ten minutes before kick-off. Sam’s a good player.”

Macclesfield are looking forward to being at Moss Rose again after clocking up the miles to Leyton Orient and Dagenham.

Former AFC Bournemouth goalkeeper Shwan Jalal should return from injury against Eastleigh, but doubts remain over right-back Jared Hodgkiss who also missed the Dagenham defeat.

Analysing the Spitfires' visit, Silkmen’s boss John Askey said: “Whoever you play, top of the league or bottom of the league, it’s always a tough game.

“Eastleigh have got some good players and, if they perform, then you’re up against it.

"But with the mood we’re in and the confidence the players are showing on the pitch, we believe we can more than match anyone we play.”