JAMIE Day is hoping to mark his first home game in charge of Braintree Town tonight with a win.

But the Iron boss admits his side will need to be at their best if they are to topple promotion candidates Eastleigh.

Day is preparing to make his Avanti Stadium bow, following his appointment as Danny Cowley’s successor earlier this summer.

Braintree head into the game on the back of a 0-0 opening-day draw at North Ferriby, where their new-look squad gave a good account of themselves in East Yorkshire.

However, Day knows they must keep their standards high if they are to beat an Eastleigh side who won their first game of the season against Guiseley.

Day said: “I caught up with a few of the Braintree supporters on Saturday but now I’m looking forward to my first home game in charge.

“I hope we can put in a good performance for the supporters.

“Everyone’s confidence should be high, after last Saturday.

“We had a long journey on the opening day which isn’t ideal but the good thing is that it gave the squad the chance to spend the whole day together and go and get a fairly good result.

“But we know that we have to put in the same level of effort and work rate as we did at North Ferriby.

“Eastleigh have good players who can open you up and you can tell with the players that they’ve got that they’re going for it, this season.

“They’ve spent a lot of money this season and they’ll be looking at the play-offs as a minimum target – I think they had six sitting in the stand who weren’t involved last Saturday.

“It’ll be a really tough game against a team who I think will be up there challenging for the title and we know that we will have to be at our best.”

Braintree will check on the fitness of Craig Braham-Barrett, ahead of the Eastleigh clash.

The former Cheltenham Town defender limped off after less than hour at North Ferriby with a sore knee and will be assessed before kick-off tonight.

Day added: “I don’t think it’s as serious as was first thought but it’s still a bit sore.

“We will assess him before the game and leave it for as long as possible if we can before we make a decision.”

Substitute goalkeeper Sam Cowler is also struggling to be fit but other than that, Braintree have no fresh injury worries.