EASTLEIGH have welcomed former youth player Josh Helm back to the ranks after losing second-string goalkeeper Lewis Noice to a freak injury at Dartford.

Noice, Ross Flitney’s understudy, had surgery yesterday after suffering a spiral fracture of the ankle in the build-up to Tuesday’s 2-2 Vanarama Conference draw in Kent.

He will be replaced in the squad, bound for Altrincham tomorrow (Saturday), by 18-year-old Helm, another promising product of the Eastleigh youth system who has spent the last two years at Swindon Town.

With skipper Dean Beckwith (groin) ruled out for the weekend and targetman Craig McAllister (ankle) struggling, the Dartford trip brought yet more injury woe for the Spitfires who lost Ben Wright to knee trouble against Southport last Saturday and are still without midfielder Craig Stanley.

But Noice’s injury would appear to be the most serious of the lot.

“It’s awful – and I’m not talking in terms of the football club here. This is a blow to a young player who’s a very good goalkeeper and has every chance of playing at a far higher level,” said manager Richard Hill.

“It was totally innocuous. We were doing a bit of shooting, he got up off the ground and his ankle gave way.

“The fact they operated within 48 hours tells you it’s not too clever. The lads call Noicey ‘The Cat’ and they were absolutely gutted for him, which shows his popularity within a very experienced group.

“I rate him highly and so do the lads but, awful as it is, it will make him a stronger character.”

Helm initially joined Eastleigh as an under-16 after being let go by Portsmouth. He was quickly pushed up to the under-18 and Wyvern Combination sides before taking a scholarship at Swindon, who have since released him.

“I can’t spend hundreds on a No2 ’keeper, but this is an opportunity for a local youngster while keeping up professional standards,” said Hill.

“I’ve never been one to tempt fate and you can guarantee that the day I don’t have a ’keeper on the bench is the day something happens.

“I was made aware Josh was available about 12 months ago, but we had Jack Dovey at the time and then Noice came through, who’s been brilliant.

“If we were a Conference South club having to watch the pennies, Noice would have played every week.”

Hill admits he has been taken aback by the length of Eastleigh’s injury list so early in the season. “I’ve never known anything like it,” he said. “At this rate I’ll be lucky to name five subs.

It’s not ideal, but I can’t affect what we’ve not got.”

Like Eastleigh, Altrincham are a newly-promoted club, having risen through the Conference North play-offs.

Managed by ex-Bradford and Huddersfield defender Lee Sinnott, who played with Hill at Watford in the 1980s, they sit 17th with seven points.

Fifth-placed Eastleigh have banked twice as many and Hill said: “I thought we were tremendous the other night.

“We’ve got 14 points from eight games and if we’d got the penalty we should have been awarded (for handball) at Dartford, we’d have been averaging two points a game.

“People have criticised me for having a go at the referee, but all I did was answer a question. I actually thought the ref had a good game, apart from that one decision, and I said so in my report.”