Eastleigh fought a tough battle with promotion hopefuls FC Halifax Town in a 2-1 home defeat.

Two first-half goals from Kian Spence and Matty Warburton gave the Shaymen the lead going into half time, only to concede straight after the restart with a classy goal from Harry Pritchard.

Seven yellow cards were shown in the competitive game at the Silverlake stadium, with Lee Bradbury’s men now sitting 19th in the Vanarama National League table.

The first half provided an open game with chances coming few and far between, with ambitious shots from Jordan Slew and Sam Smart showing signs of early excitement.

Eastleigh were forced into an early change as Smart replaced an injured Tom Broadbent, with the home side looking to play more attacking.

With five minutes left before the end of the half, Spence curled the ball in from the edge of the penalty area to give the visiting side a one goal advantage.

The score was doubled just minutes later after a Spitfires defensive blunder played in Warburton, who slotted home comfortably to give Halifax a two goal cushion going into half-time.

The Spitfires started the second half in perfect style, with Pritchard getting onto the end of Smart’s cross to get the home side back into the game.

With 25 minutes remaining, Michael Kelly almost made Eastleigh level as his free kick from the edge of the penalty area drifted just over the crossbar.

The home side continued wit their chances, with Smart coming close from the edge of the area but couldn’t find a breakthrough.

In a last gasp attempt to make the scores level, Ronan Silva tried to find the top corner of Sam Johnson’s goal, only to miss by just inches; keeping the score 2-1 to the visitors.

Written By Olly Johnson

Eastleigh FC: McDonnell; Camp, Boyce, Broadbent, Kelly; Smith, Miley, Pritchard, Harper, Hesketh; Whitehall

Subs: Bragg, Silva,Smart, Barnett, Pitman

FC Halifax Town: Johnson, Senior, Warren, Debrah, Bird, Green, Spence, Warburton, Waters, Slew, Stenson

Subs: Woods, Benn, Dearnley, Cooke, Gilmour