MANAGER Kelvin Davis heaped praise on top goalscorer Tyrese Shade, insisting the forward "is capable of doing special things".

Shade, 24, scored his 10th goal of the season in Eastleigh's disappointing 1-1 draw with Hartlepool United on Saturday.

Eastleigh's failure to win has seen them slip to ninth in the Vanarama National League but they have moved one point closer to seventh-place Altrincham Town.

However, Altrincham have two games in hand over the Spitfires and eighth-place Rochdale have four games in hand over Davis' side.

The result did not deter the boss from hailing St Kitts and Nevis international Shade, who joined the club in the summer following his departure from Swindon Town.

"Ty's a guy that is an athlete and is capable of doing special things in the game," Davis explained to Eastleigh's media team. 

"When he's on the final line and off the shoulder of the centre half you always fancy that he's going to go on and celebrate in the way that he does after a goal.

"I'm really pleased for Ty and I'm really pleased for us. He's a humble boy as well, he'll just keep doing his thing and hopefully, we can keep getting him to perform to that level."

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Davis was disappointed by how his side started affairs at the Silverlake Stadium and quipped his players had not gotten out of bed.

However, the retired goalkeeper felt his side were much improved after Shade's equaliser just before the break.

"I think after the start we got ourselves into it. I think we looked a little bit sleepy, it was one of those early spring, summery days where no one looked like they'd got out of bed.

"That was disappointing but after the first 15 and the goal had gone in it gave us a shot in the arm and off we went.

"I thought that second half we looked very dangerous again on the counterattack, very dangerous from our set plays. It was a day that we didn't manage to find a winner.

"You should be disappointed if you don't win at home. That's the level we've created, that's the expectation that we've created and instilled in the group. We want to continue that right to the end of the season."