Spitfires motor in Shots thriller

A pre-Christmas cracker of a game had everything as Aldershot Town were both resoundingly thrashed by a rampant Eastleigh side and unlucky to not snatch a point in a chaotic finale.

- Steve Gibbs

The Spitfires – knocked out of the FA Trophy last week by their Hampshire neighbors – roared into a convincing 5-0 lead, in part by capitalizing upon some slack defending, to earn just a third away win of the season. By the final whistle, however, after a 60-minute second half, home manager Tommy Widdrington was daring to dream that his side might complete a stunning comeback.

“I believe that this was a good time to play them, I know how we were after beating Reading,” observed Eastleigh boss Richard Hill, after the Shots’ midweek FA Cup heroics. “It was a solid performance for just over an hour. We were clinical when we had to be, but it’s just the other end of the field that I have to get right – for some reason we just panic and implode.”