It was a day to forget for Eastleigh as they suffered defeat at the hands of a rampant Altrincham side. 

The Cheshire side scored four goals through four different scorers to earn themselves the win. 

The Spitfires had their first go on goal in the 13th minute, Oscar Rutherford showed a bit of skill to round his opponent before aiming a cross towards Jake Taylor, who couldn’t direct his headed effort towards the target. 

The Robins’ first real attempt came just three minutes later. Linney got himself onto the end of a corner and curled a shot goal-wards, but his effort could only find the side netting. 

George Langston denied Chris Conn-Clarke from giving the visitors the lead in the 21st minute, with a superb block. 

The hosts took the lead in the 31st minute through Lewis Banks who fired the ball home into an empty net after being played through on goal. 

Chris Maguire had a go on goal in the 45th minute, with an effort from range that stung the palms of Matt Gould. 

Regan Linney then went on to double the hosts’ lead at the stroke of half-time. 

The second half started with a bang as Conn-Clarke fired an effort towards the goal with the first kick of the half. Joe McDonnell scurried back to push his effort over the crossbar. 

They added a third to their tally through Alex Newby in the 52nd minute. 

Langston denied Conn-Clarke from adding a fourth in the 61st minute with a last-ditch block. 

The next twenty minutes were full of end-to-end football with neither side creating any real chances. 

Boldewijn rounded his defender with a sublime bit of skill on the wing before whipping a cross into the path of McCallum who had an acrobatic attempt on goal that was saved by a diving Gould. 

Conn-Clarke gave the hosts a fourth in the 87th minute after getting in behind the Spitfires defence. 

He had another attempt moments after this but could not keep his effort down. 

During injury time, Conn-Clarke then went on to try it again but saw his long-range effort denied by McDonnell. 

This spelled the end of the game as the Spitfires fell to defeat. 

Altrincham: Gould (GK), Banks, Jones, Baines, Osborne, Marriott, Linney, Conn-Clarke, Amaluzor, Cooper, Newby

Subs: Kosylo, Angus, Roscoe, Wilson, Mooney

Eastleigh: McDonnell (GK), Clampin (10), Atangana, Taylor (C) (67), McCallum, Boldewijn, Langston, Hodson, Croll (46), Maguire, Rutherford

Subs: Scott (GK), Martin (46), Barlow, Nwabuokei (10), Dotse (67)

Attendance: 2166 (81 away)

Report by Matthew Gibbs