WHEN Eastleigh clocked up three straight home wins against Farnborough, Newport and Bedford last month, it looked as if the bulk of their relegation fears were behind them.

But such is the unpredictable nature of the end-of-season scramble for survival that several of their fellow strugglers have picked up too.

And with the Bedford result sandwiched between defeats on the road at Welling and Hayes, the 17th-placed Spitfires still have only three points' breathing space over third-to-bottom Weston-super-Mare.

Player/assistant manager David Hughes admitted: "It's still very tight down at the bottom.

"All the teams, within reason, have started picking up points.

"That's nothing new. It used to happen back in my Southampton days," said the former Saints midfielder.

"You'd get back in the changing room buzzing after a win and then find out that everyone else had won too!"

Full story, as part of FIVE pages of non league previews, in today's Daily Echo.