Brentford vs Eastleigh
Saturday 7 January Griffin Park Emirates FA Cup Third Round Proper Kick-off: 3pm
The Opponents
69 places in the league pyramid separate The Bees and The Spitfires as the National League club head to Griffin Park for a first ever meeting between the two. Sitting 11th in the National League, nine points off the Play-Offs, it's been an up and down season for the Hampshire club this campaign. Eastleigh began the season with Chris Todd in charge but dispensed of his services in favour of Ronnie Moore in August. 11 wins in 22 games wasn't enough to see Moore keep his job last month as Martin Allen dropped down a division from Barnet to take over at Ten Acres.
It's already taken The Spitfires five games to get to the Third Round. North Leigh were brushed aside 6-0 in the Fourth Qualifying Round before League One Swindon Town were beaten 3-1 in a replay at The County Ground, following a 1-1 draw at home in the First Round. Eastleigh shared six goals with National League North side FC Halifax Town in Round Two before winning 2-0 at The Shay in the replay to set up their Third Round tie at Griffin Park.
The Manager
Martin Allen is a name well-known to Brentford fans after his two year spell at Griffin Park between 2004 and 2006. As a player Allen made more than 300 appearances for Queens Park Rangers, West Ham United, and Portsmouth, gaining his Mad Dog nickname for his combative style in the midfield, before hanging up his boots in 1998.
Allen began his coaching career with his home-town club Reading before moving to Barnet in 2002, firstly as a coach, but then as manager after Peter Shreeves' departure. He left Barnet after a year in charge, with The Bees fighting at the top end of the Conference, to join Brentford. He saved Brentford from relegation towards the end of the 2003/04 season before leading the club to consecutive Play-Off Semi-Finals and runs to the FA Cup Fifth Round. Allen left in 2006, having spells at MK Dons, Leicester City, Cheltenham Town, Barnet (three spells), Notts County, and Gillingham, before arriving at Eastleigh last month.
The Match Officials
Referee: Peter Bankes Assistant Referees: John Flynn and Robert Dabbs Fourth Official: Charles Breakspear
Pre-match Views
Dean Smith: "A cup run engages everyone at the football club."
Ticket and Travel news
Tickets will be on sale online, from the ticket office, and from the turnstiles until kick-off on Saturday. Click here for more information.
There are planned engineering works on South West Trains on Saturday which will affect journeys to Griffin Park. Details here.
Match Betting
Principal partners 888sport offer the latest odds on tomorrow's meeting.
Bees 33/100 Eastleigh 8/1 Draw 4/1
Join Club Sponsors 888sport today and get industry leading odds on a range of sports markets!
Match Coverage
You can hear live match commentary on Bees Player from 2.30pm tomorrow, with Mark Burridge and Marcus Gayle.
There will be live match updates on Twitter from 2pm.
All the coverage of Monday's match can also be found in one place with our new club App. Download for free here.