The Spitfires progress to the Fifth Round of the Isuzu FA Trophy, with a win over Basford United at Greenwich Avenue.

A first-half goal from Richard Brindley put the Spitfires in a good position. His goal was then backed up by a Paul McCallum brace.

In the dying minutes, Alex Stepien-Iwumene scored his first ever Eastleigh goal, with a fine finish into the bottom right corner capping a solid performance from the Spitfires.

The home side hit the woodwork just after the ten minute mark. Joe Vegas got a shot off from the edge of the box, which was blocked by Niall Maher, before it clipped the post on it’s way out of play.

Not so long after, Richard Brindley gave the Spitfires the lead of the game. A free kick was dinked towards the left side of the box by Chris Maguire, which met Paul McCallum who headed the ball across goal. Brindley was left with an easy finish from close-range, bagging his third goal of the season in the process.

Eastleigh threatened to double their lead in the 22nd minute, when Paul McCallum went though on goal. His shot beat Saul Deeney in the Basford goal, but met the post and trickled away from danger.

Just five minutes later, the Spitfires hit the other post. This time, Lee Hodson tricked his man, before cutting inside and curling the ball towards goal. His effort did not come back into the danger area after hitting the post.

Kacy Butterfield attempted to level the scoring, with a shot from range just before the half hour mark, but blasted his shot comfortably over the target.

The remainder of the first-half was mainly played out in the middle of the park. McCallum did catch sight of goal in stoppage time, but saw his shot get matched by Deeney.

The Lions looked set to level the scoring on the hour mark, after Butterfield whipped the ball into the box, and onto the head of Uvegas. The Basford attacker wasn’t quite able to direct the ball on target with his headed effort.

McCallum went up the other end and doubled the Spitfires’ lead. He met a cross at the back post, and bundled the ball into the back of the net, giving the Spitfires a more comfortable lead just after the hour mark.

Moments later, McCallum scored again. Maguire found McCallum at the back post again, with him heading the ball home to give the Spitfires a three goal lead.

The hectic period continued when Kane Richards aimed to respond with a long range effort just a few moments after Eastleigh scored the third. His shot struck the post, and bounced away from trouble.

Basford did manage to get on the scoresheet in the 66th minute, with Joshua Barnes finding the back of the net to reduce the home sides deficit.

Maguire tried to get himself on the scoresheet with a left footed effort in the 71st minute, but saw his shot sail just wide of the target.

Jordan Hallam almost scored a wonder goal in the 75th minute. He curled a free-kick from range towards the target, but couldn’t’t get his shot down quite enough, with it grazing the top of the net on it’s way over the crossbar.

Late on, Alex Stepien-Iwumene put himself on the scoresheet. He was given the ball, and had plenty of time to compose himself before finding the bottom right corner of the goal.

In stoppage time, Liam Webber took a throw-in that covered a lot of distance before finding Maguire, who had a chance to score a fifth, but couldn’t beat Deeney. This was the final chance of the game, as the Spitfires went on to book this place in the Fifth Round of the Isuzu FA Trophy.

Basford United: Deeney (GK), Aves, Barnes, Thornhill (C), Stewart, Anderson, Richards (Abdulla, 75′), Butterfield, Chambers, Hallam, Uveges (Waite, 65′)

Unused subs: Bastos, James, Ridgley, Woodward, Atai

Goals: Barnes (66′)

Yellow cards: Aves (12′), Thornhill (58′)

Eastleigh: McDonnell (GK), Brindley, Humphries (Webber, 89′), Fernandez, Maguire, McCallum (C), Hodson, Waruih (Taylor, 63′), Boutin (Semenyo, 75′), Underhill (Stepien-Iwumene, 70′), Maher

Unused subs: Scott (GK), Francillette, Shade

Goals: Brindley (13′), McCallum (61′, 64′), Stepien-Iwumene (86′)

Referee: Andrew Miller

Attendance: 361

Report by Matthew Gibbs