EASTLEIGH may be the form side of the National League, but they had begun to wonder if they would ever break into the play-off places.

But after weeks of hammering on the door, it finally opened yesterday as they surged up to fifth with a superb 2-0 win at Salford.

“A couple of the boys have gone in there (the dressing room) and joked that we’ve gone down to ninth!” smiled manager Ben Strevens.

“We seemed to be winning and doing great, but everyone around us was too – and that shows how competitive the top part of this league is.

“But now we’ve moved up a few places, let’s not get complacent,” he cautioned.

“The hard work ain’t done yet, it carries on.

“I’m so proud of these boys.

"Now we’ve got something in our hands, we’ve got to grasp it, go with it and make sure we hold onto it because the last thing I want is to get ourselves in the play-off places and then fall back out of it.”

Joey Jones was Eastleigh's man-of-the-match, setting up both goals for master marksman Paul McCallum, who is now second in the National League scoring charts with 21.

The former Leyton Orient targetman has bagged three successive braces against Aldershot, Braintree and Salford, putting him just one goal behind AFC Fylde's Danny Rowe in the race for the golden boot.