FA CUP THIRD ROUND HEARTACHE DRIVES ME ON
Dan’s family trauma
EASTLEIGH defender Dan Harding has revealed the heartache spurring him on to inflict an FA Cup upset against Bolton on Saturday.
Harding’s wife Vicky was pregnant with triplets but tragically two babies died in the womb and only daughter Lexie survived. After the trauma, ex-Southampton and Leeds star Harding, 32, quit his Football League career to become a family man and help Vicky cope with her grief. Harding said: “We already had three kids, then my wife found out she was p re gnant this time
last year when I was at Nottingham Forest. We went for a scan and it was twins. Then we went for another. Believe it or not, it was triplets and unfortunately one had died early on.
“We knew from the start Millie would never make it, but from week 10 or 12 we were told she would pass away next week. But she managed to fight on to 26 weeks.
“The problem we had was if Millie had passed away early, then it would have brought on a false labour and killed her sister Lexie.
“Thankfully, the miracle happened and she lived long enough for her sister to be born healthy, albeit premature.
“Football really helped because it meant I was home every day and going into training and seeing the lads really takes the mind off it. Afterwards I wanted to be closer to home. At my age it was more important that family came before football, after what happened.
“That’s how I ended up at Eastleigh.” The Hardings formed an alliance with former Saints team-mates Richard Chaplow, who lost baby Teddy before birth, and Billy Sharp, whose son Luey Jacob died after two days.
He added: “My wife and Richard Chaplow’s wife are really close and she had something similar happen – that really helped us.” Harding dropped down four divisions to play for upwardly mobile Eastleigh, who are fourth in the National League and the last non-League side left in the FA Cup.
He even rejected an offer from Portsmouth because he could not bring himself to play for Southampton’s rivals.
The left-back said: “I just thought living in Southampton and helping Southampton get to where they are now, I didn’t want to upset the apple cart.”
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