RICHARD Hill is not necessarily asking for a better home performance when Eastleigh host Alfreton Town tomorrow – just a better result.

With four games left to decide their Vanarama Conference play-off destiny, the Spitfires cannot afford anymore slip-ups on home soil having won just two of nine league games at the Silverlake Stadium since the turn of the year.

Prior to Christmas, Hill’s newly-promoted Conference South champions were invincible on Stoneham Lane soil, winning eight of their 12 league matches and drawing the rest.

But it has been a different story in 2015 with the previously travel-sick Spitfires suddenly collecting vastly more points on the road than they have in their own back yard.

The dramatic reversal in home and away fortunes is hard to fathom, but Hill said: “I think it’s because we were underestimated before Christmas.

“We were new to the league and people underestimated how difficult it was to come here.

“They used to think ‘It’s only Eastleigh, it’s not a problem’ and it took until Christmas for teams to realise that if they don’t match us and play well here, they’ll get beat.

“Word’s got round now and until last week (a 1-0 defeat by Dover Athletic), the teams that have come here since Christmas and got something have all played well.

“They’re coming to our place with a different attitude now and a different foresight to the way they approach the game.

“That’s why, even when we were unbeaten here, I kept saying: ‘We will get beat at home’. I knew teams would have to take a different approach.

“I wouldn’t say we need to improve our performances at home, but we need to try and improve results.

“As for our away results, I think we’ve probably learned from how these teams have played at our place, working hard and making themselves hard to beat.”

Thanks to what Hill described as “an absolutely brilliant” shift by his players at Welling United on Monday, the Dover depression was instantly lifted as goals by Jai Reason and Jamie Turley kept them right in the hunt.

The priceless 2-1 win at Park View Road leaves the sixth-placed Spitfires two points behind fifth-placed Forest Green Rovers and four behind fourth-placed Macclesfield with a game in hand.

To add extra spice to a tasty scenario, Forest Green and Macclesfield play each other tomorrow at The New Lawn, meaning Eastleigh could leapfrog one or both of them by following a positive result against Alfreton with another away at FC Halifax Town on Tuesday.

Alfreton are 20th, six points clear of the drop zone. It should be enough to save them, but they still have to play Welling United who have a game in hand and a superior goal difference. Plus, the Derbyshire outfit – who beat the Spitfires 3-2 at home in December - must travel to title-chasing Bristol Rovers on the last day.

Eastleigh will again be without left-back Michael Green (hamstring) tomorrow, but Deon Burton returns from suspension to add to their frontline options while Hill himself can go back to the dugout after a two-match touchline ban.

Player-assistant boss Craig McAllister trained yesterday after suffering a dead leg against Dover, but skipper and centre-back Dean Beckwith stayed at home suffering from the same sickness bug that laid Hill low last week.

“Dean’s not trained and he’s stayed away from the club. We’ve got to be careful with that one,” said the boss.