NEWLY-ENTHRONED boss Ben Strevens takes his first game in permanent charge of Eastleigh away at Barrow AFC on Saturday (3pm).

But he may be forced to trek north without left wing-back Michael Green and striker Chris Zebroski as he bids to build on a tidy run of just one defeat in ten National League games.

Zebroski is unavailable, while crowd favourite Green, the Spitfires’ longest serving player, pulled up with a groin problem in training on Monday and is rated highly doubtful for the 600-mile round trip to Cumbria.

On a more positive note, Cav Miley is back available having trained this week following a groin strain and fellow midfielder Oscar Gobern was due to return to full training today having limped off early in the 1-1 draw against Leyton Orient with a calf problem.

That midfield boost means Strevens is unlikely to move to strengthen his squad in the immediate future, although that could change if 29-year-old Green is forced out for any length of time.

Strevens said: “It was a bit of a blow on Monday when Greener went down in training.

“Hopefully it’s not too bad and we’ll soon have a better idea of how he is.

“We’re going out to games and speaking to people (player-wise), but we’ve only lost one league game in ten and right now I don’t think we need to do a lot.

“But if Greener’s injury turns out to be more serious, we’d probably have to go into the loan market because we’ve got no real cover for Greener and Josh Hare.

“Greener and (right wing-back) Josh are important to us. They play with a lot of energy, defending and getting forward.”

Eastleigh will set off for Barrow tomorrow (Friday) but won’t be stopping to train en route.

“We were training on the way up to games, but we picked up some niggling injuries and, for the last two away games, we haven’t done it,” Strevens explained.

“We had a couple of good days' training earlier in the week and have done the bulk of the technical work today.

“It’s five hours to Barrow on a good day and, with Friday traffic, that could turn into anything. It could be a real long day. We’ll let the boys go to the swimming pool when we get there.”

Traditionally Barrow hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Eastleigh, but Strevens is confident that could change.

“I can’t remember us getting any sort of result up there, but we won't go there fearing Barrow, we’ll go there knowing what a good team we can be,” he said.

“In the past Barrow have been a big physical side, but they’re playing more football now so it should be a good game. It’s one we’re looking forward to.”

Barrow lie seven places and seven points beneath Eastleigh in 17th, but Bluebirds' boss Ian Evatt is close to having a fully-fit squad available for the first time in his Holker Street tenure.

Top scorer Tyler Smith, captain Josh Granite and long-term absentees Rhys Turner and Matt Elsdon have been back in training, leaving only forward Nathan Waterston (shoulder) unavailable.