Vincent Harper’s double was enough to see off Scunthorpe United and ensured that Eastleigh claimed all three points at the Silverlake Stadium to continue their undefeated record at home.
The first attempt of the game came when midfielder JJ McKiernan, he found himself in acres of space on the edge of the penalty area but his shot cannoned off a white shirt to safety.
Moments later, Tristan Abrahams latched onto a loose ball and did superbly to shrug off the defender inside the 18 yard box but powered his shot wide of the post.
On the 21st minute, the away side had their first real effort on goal as Joe Nuttall tried his luck from range but saw his shot blaze over the crossbar.
Minutes later, Jake Hesketh plucked a high ball down from the night sky, played a neat one-two with Charlie Carter before unleashing an effort which didn’t trouble Marcus Dewhurst in goal.
Scunthorpe went from defence to attack following a Spitfire corner, the visitors worked the ball up the field quickly before the tricky Robert Apter fired wide.
10 minutes before the interval, Oscar Rutherford continued to cause havoc on the righthand side as he skipped past his marker and played in a powerful delivery into Abrahams who was agonisingly close from poking home.
Instantly after, Brennan Camp dazzled his way past two defenders with some silky footwork to rocket a shot from close range which was turned away by Dewhurst.
The game burst into life straight from the restart, Jacob Butterfield whipped in a corner which was met by Andrew Boyce, who towered above his marker but headed over.
Nuttall then tried his chances from 20 yards as Joe McDonnell made his first save of the night with little effort required.
McKiernan was running the show in the middle of the park as he drove at the heart of Scunthorpe’s defence, he pulled the ball back to Camp who’s shot was bravely blocked.
Minutes after Boyce’s first chance from a corner, the defender found himself free in a similar situation and the this time his thunderbolt of a header was only inches over.
Micheal Kelly held his run to stay onside and saw his cross deflected goal bound, however the Scunthorpe shot stopper scrambled to the near post and flicked the ball behind with awkward foot.
From the resulting corner, George Langston eluded his man where he darted to the front post to met a Hesketh corner but his glancing header ended up with the Eastleigh fans.
The deadlock was broken on the 68th minute when substitute Vincent Harper scored with his second touch of the game, the defender was on the pitch a matter of seconds.
Carter wriggled past a white shirt in the midfield, he then threaded the ball through to Harper who took one touch and then thundered a shot into the top righthand corner of the goal from 20 yards.
Lee Bradbury’s side got the break through that they deserved but they had to work extremely hard for it against a resilient and well structured side.
Apter went down under a challenge in the closing stages of the game but the referee waved play on as Scunthorpe looked for an equaliser in the contest.
In additional time at the end of the game, the away side had successive corners which were repelled by the home team.
As the game was stretched with Scunthorpe throwing everything at Eastleigh, McKiernan found space again and galloped towards the visitors goal.
The midfielder then put the ball on a plate for Harper to hammer home from only yards out to double the Spitfires lead and ensure victory for Lee Bradbury’s side.
Report by Jack Bunclark
