Former Eastleigh defender Michael Green to miss trip to old club with Hawks following decision to retire after 'stellar non-league career'

The 32-year-old has been released from his one-year Westleigh Park deal and taken the decision retire from the game.

Hawks boss Paul Doswell revealed Green, who only joined the club from Eastleigh in the summer, had asked for his contract to be terminated prior to last month's FA Cup first round trip to League One Charlton.

But the defender, who made just 11 appearances in a brief Westleigh Park stay, remained up until last Wednesday's National League South home draw with Dulwich Hamlet - making his final appearance in a playing career spanning 13 years.

Green spent more than a decade with Hawks' Hampshire Senior Cup third round opponents Eastleigh, who they travel to tomorrow night, and Doswell believes the retiring defender can take great pride from a ‘stellar non-league career’.

The Hawks boss said: ‘Mike Green has retired. He told us three to four weeks ago - his wife’s work has really taken off - they’ve just had a baby, he wants to spend more time at home. He asked me about three to four weeks ago whether I’d release him from his contract there and then which was before the Charlton game.

‘In fairness, I asked him if he’d stay on to help us through this crisis and Dulwich was actually his last game on Wednesday night.

‘We didn’t get to see the best of him at all (during his time at Hawks) because he got injured. It’s fair to say that

‘I thought he had a stellar non-league career, really, he’s a good lad, a good player but he’s obviously at a point of his life when things are starting to change.’

Hawks’ current injury crisis means they are likely to travel to take on National League Eastleigh with a squad of just 14 players.

Oxford loanee Leon Chambers-Parillon and Theo Widdrington - recently returning to Hawks after a loan stint at Gosport Borough - are both in line to start the cup clash.

But Doswell has doubts over Scott Rendell and Nicky Bailey (both illness) while Josh Passley is ruled out with concussion after being knocked out in Saturday's league defeat to Bath City.

Doswell, returning to an Eastleigh side who handed him his first job in management, added: ‘Whatever happens we’ve only got 14 players for tomorrow and I don’t really want to play seven of those 14 because they’ve already played far too many minutes.

‘It’s just been really difficult, I think playing Tuesday-Saturday, Wednesday-Saturday has just been too much, we’ve got the same players playing the same minutes.’