JUST WHEN Eastleigh needed a full-strength squad at their disposal, problems are piling up again for Paul Doswell's Ryman Premier promotion chasers.

Hot on the heels of David Hughes's career-threatening knee injury came confirmation that midfield terrier Tyronne Bowers had broken his ankle in last Wednesday's Russell Cotes Cup semi-final win over Fleet Town.

And there was more worry for Doswell going into today's trip to Salisbury City (3pm) with ex-Saint Ryan Ashford hobbling off after 25 minutes of Saturday' dull 0-0 home draw with Windsor & Eton.

"Ryan's had a sore Achilles for some time but he doesn't know how it is until he steps onto the pitch and he felt it go after five or ten minutes on Saturday," Doswell explained.

"We missed his quality and the physical side that Tyronne brings us.

"Just when we needed a clean bill of health, we've started to lose players again."

With Billericay winning on Friday, Eastleigh have slipped to fourth, trailing third-placed Braintree on goal difference having played one game more.

With so much at stake, their players should have been champing at the bit to secure a fourth straight league win against an indifferent Windsor side on Saturday. Yet the game had a flat, end-of-season feel about it, with Doswell shouting in vain for urgency from his men.

Eastleigh almost scored within seconds of the start when Windsor keeper Chuck Martini smacked an attempted clearance against striker Andy Forbes and the ball rebounded off the striker's ankle and trickled agonisingly wide.

Sadly for the 355 crowd, that was about as good as the Easter entertainment got.

For half an hour, little was seen of Windsor as an attacking force but, for all their possession, Eastleigh lacked the nous to carve open their visitors.

Craig McAllister's powerful run and shot forced a smart save from Martini on 49 minutes, but suddenly Windsor broke out of their defensive shell to cause a couple of scares.

Home keeper Lee Webber, who had spent most of the first half basking in the spring sunshine, pushed Fabian Forde's rising drive over the bar from point-blank range and then one-handedly tipped away Spencer Walsh's long-range shot.

The dancing feet of Ashford's replacement Alex Haddow and the aerial power of 75th-minute substitute Paul Sales provided Eastleigh's best hope of a late breakthrough.

But it was Windsor who would have stolen it at the death but for Chris Collins's goalline clearance.

"We need four wins from our last six games and we've targeted where we can get them," said Doswell.

"To be fair the Windsor game was one of those targets, but we'll just have to get the points elsewhere."

Bored by Windsor's tactics, Doswell yawned: "They came here looking for a point and they got one. They sat very deep and we weren't bright enough to break them down.

"One reason I'm looking forward to playing Salisbury today is that they'll come at us a bit more - particularly as they're at home. It disappoints me when teams come here and don't try to win."