Eastleigh’s away form continued as the Spitfires let an early lead slip to lose 3-1 at Wealdstone.
An early Lloyd goal seemed to have set Eastleigh on their way to a first away win in 2023 however a goal on the brink of half time from Nathan Ferguson changed the course of the game.
Two further goals from Max Kretzschmar and Micah Obiero sealed the victory for the Stones who rise above Eastleigh in the table with the three points.
The Spitfires were ahead in the opening minute when Lloyd burst in behind and the QPR loanee made no mistake slotting into the bottom left corner past the helpless Samuel Howes.
Eastleigh thought they had doubled their lead seven minutes later when Charlie Carter smashed the ball into the net from close range only for Ousseynou Cisse to be adjudged to have fouled his man from the corner knockdown.
The visitors continued to press for a second and JJ McKiernan’s volley from the edge of the box deflected off of the back of Aaron Martin before bouncing narrowly wide of the goal.
Twenty minutes in, Wealdstone began to get a foothold in the game without testing Joe McDonnell in the Eastleigh goal.
Ferguson blazed over from 20-yards out midway through the first half and Kretzschmar’s effort from a similar distance once again hit Martin and landed just wide of the target.
The Spitfires almost hit the hosts on the counter attack when Danny Whitehall broke the offside trap before laying the ball off to Carter to shoot but a brilliant sliding block prevented the visitors from adding a second before half time.
Instead, with virtually the last kick of the half, Ferguson was left all alone on the edge of the box from a wide free kick and nestled his brilliant first-time effort into the far left corner meaning the teams went down the tunnel in stalemate.
Following the break, Ferguson clearly feeling confident from his equalising goal and again tried his luck this time from 20-yards out and an acute angle that forced McDonnell to get down low to his left to palm away.
Tarryn Allarakhia sparked into life in the second half and was then allowed to drive into the box before being brought down by Martin giving referee Jason Richardson no choice but to point to the spot.
Kretzschmar stepped up to take the penalty and emphatically buried the ball into the left corner to give the Stones the lead in the 53rd minute.
Buoyed by taking the lead, Allarakhia pounced on a loose ball in the final third and again drove on goal, this time electing to shoot from 18-yards out but rattling over the bar.
However, the winger was then forced off due to injury on the hour mark, swinging the momentum back in the way of Eastleigh.
As the weather took a turn for the worse, substitute Jake Hesketh’s first involvement in the game was to shoot narrowly over from inside the area.
The Spitfires continued to push for an equalising goal as surface water began to build on the pitch.
With twenty minutes to play Alfie Lloyd went close to his second goal of the game when he headed over under pressure from 10-yards out.
Although it was the Stones who were to find the net with just eight minutes remaining, when Obiero twisted his way into the box and curled perfectly into the bottom right.
Eastleigh will look to bounce back from defeat at home against Braintree in the FA Trophy next Saturday.
By Sajidur Rahman
