RICHARD Hill says it’s no good relying on him as a lucky charm if Eastleigh want to thrive in the FA Cup this season.

In all his years in football, the 51-year-old former Wycombe, Aston Villa and QPR assistant manager has only ever experienced one memorable run in the world’s most famous domestic club competition – the quarter-finals with Tranmere Rovers in 2004.

He was right-hand man to Brian Little at the time and the Prenton Park outfit lost a sixth round replay to Millwall who were beaten 3-0 by Manchester United in the Cardiff final.

In common with all managers Hill, who leads Eastleigh to Vanarama Conference rivals Kidderminster Harriers in the fourth qualifying round tomorrow, would love a high-profile Cup run.

Aside from the monetary rewards – there is £12,500 on offer to tomorrow’s winners – it would further boost the Spitfires’ fast-growing fan base which has seen average attendances rocket from 600 to 1,600 since promotion from the Conference South.

But Hill admitted: “I don’t have much luck in the FA Cup, so if they’re relying on me for that, it ain’t going to happen.

“But if we play well, compete, get a bit of luck and the wind’s blowing in the right direction, who knows we might just surprise a few people.

“A Cup run is what we all strive for and it would be good to keep the momentum going with our new-found supporters. It’s quite popular on the south coast these days to be supporting Eastleigh and looking out for our results. It would be nice to capitalise on that.

“But we have to remember that Kidderminster want what we want. If you could have handpicked the draw, it wouldn’t have been this one, but it is what it is.”

League-wise barely a fag paper separates the sides with Kiddy locked on 26 points with Eastleigh in mid-table, albeit they have played one game more than the Spitfires. The Aggborough outfit boast a good recent Cup pedigree, having raked in £125,000 in prize money – plus gate receipts – in reaching the fourth round proper last season for only the second time in their 124-year history.

They almost crashed at the first hurdle, needing extra-time to scrape past Bradford Park Avenue in a replay. But wins over Sutton, Newport County and Peterborough followed before they bowed out 1-0 to Sunderland at The Stadium of Light.

“It’s very hard to replicate last year’s run, that sort of thing only happens rarely, but we want to see how far we can go this year.” said Kiddy boss Gary Whild.

Things are picking up slightly on the injury front for Eastleigh with James Constable returning as a second-half sub against Nuneaton last Saturday and Ben Wright on the bench.

Shoulder victim Jack Midson trained yesterday, but Hill admitted “I don’t know where we are where with his injury. Until he’s ready I don’t get involved.”

The same applies to England C defender Jamie Turley who was due an operation on his arm this week.

“A few bodies are getting back to training now, but we’ve had lads who’ve done pre-season, picked up an injury through no fault of their own, been out a few weeks and need to go through another pre-season,” said Hill.

Kiddy’s Kyle Storer is back after suspension tomorrow but his midfield partner Jack Byrne misses out to a one-match ban and defender Josh Gowling (shoulder) remains sidelined.

FORMER Eastleigh manager Ian Baird has returned to the Conference South as head coach of Sutton United.

He will team up with another ex-Silverlake boss Paul Doswell, who has been managing the Us since leaving the Spitfires in May 2008.