WITH 22 goals in his locker and a player-of-the-month trophy adorning the mantelpiece, Paul McCallum has been the main man up top during Eastleigh’s climb up the National League.

But it was two of his teammates, Chris Zebroski and Mark Yeates, who stole the show on Tuesday as the Spitfires rose to sixth with a 2-0 home win over Maidstone United.

After a season interrupted by personal issues, Zebroski is getting back to his powerhouse best.

And for manager Ben Strevens it was a joy to see set-piece maestro Yeates imprinting his name on the scoresheet for only the third time this season after setting up almost half of Eastleigh’s 49-goal tally.

I think Yeatesy’s got over 20 assists now and he’s saying that goal was overdue,” said Strevens.

“He’s got that quality.

“In training he scores unbelievable goals, so to see him touch and finish like that was great.

“It was a fantastic finish, but it’s not something we haven’t seen from him on a daily basis in training.”

The only blot on Eastleigh’s copybook since the third week of January is the 1-0 home defeat by Halifax in which Zebroski slammed a point-blank header against the crossbar.

“Zeb missed a chance he maybe would have taken on another day but, as a striker, you’ve got to keep getting in there,” said Strevens.

“He was a real handful (against Maidstone). We got 70 minutes out of him of all-action, the Zebroski everyone loves watching.

“Then Willo (Ben Williamson) came on and took over the baton and ended up creating the second goal for Yeatesy.”

With Eastleigh back in the thick of the play-off zone, anticipation is rising among Spitfires fans ahead of Saturday's next home test against Barrow AFC (3pm).

Strevens, though, is keen to keep his team grounded and fully focused on the next game.

“I know I keep repeating myself, but it’s not where we are now, it’s where we are at the end of the season,” he said.

“We’ve got nine massive games left to try and make sure we’re in and around it.

“It’s obviously pleasing to move up the league. That’s seven wins out of eight for us now and to be on that form and not be in there, we’d have to have done something wrong!” he smiled.

“We’ll just keep taking care of ourselves and concentrate on being ready for Barrow.”

Eastleigh have already had one good win over the Bluebirds this season, triumphing 3-0 at Holker Street in November courtesy of two-goal McCallum and Williamson.

But the mid-table Cumbrians have taken some decent scalps – none better than on Tuesday night when they dealt Wrexham’s automatic promotion hopes a huge blow with a 3-1 win at The Racecourse Ground.

Dan Jones, Jacob Blyth and Lewis Hardcastle blew the Dragons away in the opening 45 minutes and Barrow boss Ian Evatt said: “To a man, I thought we were outstanding - our effort, our commitment, I thought our shape suited us really well and, finally, we put our chances away."

After Saturday, Eastleigh have a fortnight’s rest before two more back-to-back home games against Hartlepool United (March 30) and Barnet (April 2).