RICHARD Hill is calling on Eastleigh fans to create a cauldron of noise inside the Silverlake Stadium tomorrow night (Tuesday, 7.45pm) and roar the team to victory over Dover Athletic.

The injury-stricken Spitfires sit a none too shabby sixth in the table, but are without a win in four league games.

They need support now more than ever as they look to steer themselves back on course in the Vanarama National League promotion race.

While Hill has told his players that the only way out of the rut is to “roll our sleeves up and work even harder,” his Leicester City-supporting alter-ego knows that fans have a huge role to play in times of adversity.

“If it hadn’t been for the fans, Leicester would have gone down last season,” he said. “And when they were 2-0 down against Aston Villa recently, it was the supporters who helped them back to win 3-2.

“For three years we’ve given Eastleigh fans something to cheer about and now we need them to give us a lift.

“I’m not saying they haven’t supported us, they have, but we need them to give the team the confidence to turn it around and the players must keep their side of the bargain by working hard.

“Say what you like about me, just get behind the players!

“I’m doing nothing different now to what I’ve done in the last three years, but how many other teams have had to go through what we have?

“We’ve had three different goalkeepers and three different captains already.

“I’ve looked into the loan market because of the injuries we’ve got, but no one wants to let any players go at the moment.”

It has emerged that centre-back and skipper Paul Reid has a hairline fracture to go with the infected wound on his right leg.

Ben Strevens, another armband wearer, serves the third of his three-match ban tonight, while Jamie Turley, who led the side in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Chester, is touch and go after taking a whack on an existing shin problem.

It is doubtful whether goalkeeper Michael Poke’s shoulder injury will heal before his loan spell from Portsmouth ends in January, but one ray of light is that club No1 Ross Flitney is well on the mend from a cracked thumb bone.

“If there’s any good news, that’s it,” said Hill. “It could be another three to five months before the bone knits properly, but Ross can step up training in terms of handling and we’ll see how he is at the end of the week.”

Dover, just three points behind Eastleigh in 14th,  have drawn their last two games 0-0.

 Manager Chris Kinnear said: “We are close – and getting closer – but it is still not quite clicking up front.

 “It pleases me that we have only lost two games and have three clean sheets in four matches, but we need to start putting our chances away.”

 Entry is free tomorrow for local students. Ring the club on 023 8061 3361 to book a ticket.