BEN Wright is out of the Eastleigh reckoning for tonight’s Vanarama Conference trip to Dartford.

And the bad news for the Spitfires is that he could be sidelined for a while.

Wright was part of a bold triple substitution by manager Richard Hill against Southport on Saturday, but he lasted only seven minutes before succumbing to a knee injury.

Ten-man Eastleigh went on to win 2-1 to go fifth in the table but, for the time being , they will have to do without a player whose goals were instrumental in clinching the Conference South title while on loan from Basingstoke.

Hill confirmed: “We don’t know the extent of Ben’s injury yet, we need to send him for a scan. But his knee’s very sore and I’d be surprised if we see him in the next month.”

With midfielder Craig Stanley and left-back Matt Fry still struggling, young striker Tony Lee – currently getting games with Wessex outfit Lymington - is added to the Spitfires’ travelling party to face the 20th-placed Darts.

Hill explained: “I like to take 18 players and this just brings Tony into the squad. I’m not saying it will be the case next week, but Craig (heel ligament) is still injured and Matt (sore Achilles) is still not right. Craig’s been doing basic running, but we’re not going to rush him.”

With four wins and a draw from their opening seven games, Hill reckons Eastleigh have had “an unbelievable start” in non-League’s top flight.

They have lost their last two games on the road, at Dover and Macclesfield, but the manager stressed: “Sometimes you have to take a step back and say ‘look how far we’ve come’ to put things in perspective.

“Some people reckoned we didn’t well play against Southport, but I thought we played as well in the first half as we’d played for a while.

“If we play to the best of our ability tonight and Dartford don’t, we’ll have a chance. But one thing’s for certain, they won’t lie down and let us win.

“It’s frustrating for fans when their team doesn’t win, but that’s football.

“I’ve never yet seen a team stand aside and say ‘we’ll let them win today’ and, until some fans realise that, they are always going to be disappointed.”