The Spitfires draw with Wealdstone, on the road at Grosvenor Vale.

The game got off to a rapid start, with Ludwig Francillette finding the back of the net in just the second minute to put Eastleigh in front. Following a long-throw, the Eastleigh defender pounced onto the ball, and poked it into the back of the net, to get his seventh league goal of the season.

In the 11th minute, Francillette came closing to finding the back of the net again. His half-volley from inside the box went just over the crossbar.

Alex Reid came close to finding a leveller for the home side in the 18th minute. From an awkward angel, he forced Joe McDonnell into making a diving save. The Eastleigh ‘keeper parried the ball away, before it was cleared from danger.

Not so long after the Reid chance, Max Kretzschmar had a headed effort on goal, but would see McDonnell get across to catch his shot with ease.

Just after the half hour mark, and impressive throw from McDonnell sent Tyrese Shade through on goal. He got his shot off from the left side of the box, and forced Luca Gunter to get down low to deny his shot.

Following a goal mouth scramble, Francillette slammed the ball home to score his second goal of the afternoon, doubling the Spitfires’ lead in the process.

Just five minutes later, Tyrese Shade netted a third for the Spitfires. He dinked the ball over Gunter, giving the Spitfires a 3-0 lead going into half-time.

Micah Obiero had the first proper chance of the second-half. He aimed the ball towards goal from range in the 51st minute, but was unable to find the target, as he saw his shot sail into the stands.

Following this, Dom Hutchinson came even closer to pulling one back for the hosts. He took advantage of a loose ball in the box, but was unable to get it over the line. After a bit of a scramble, McDonnell ended up with the ball safely in his hands.

Tyler Walker blasted a shot towards the top left corner in the 64th minute, but was denied by McDonnell who made an acrobatic save to deny the Wealdstone man.

The home side continued their push for a goal, when Mustapha Carayol had a go with a free kick from 35-yards out. His shot powered it’s way towards goal, but missed slightly to the left of the target.

With their next effort on goal, they would pull one back, with Walker being the man that was able to find the back of the net for the home side, with a close range effort.

Wealdstone earned a penalty in the 76th minute, and despite McDonnell getting a hand to Reid’s effort, the ball still managed to find its way into the back of the net. The Wealdstone striker then scored his second in the 88th minute, to level the scoring.

Wealdstone: Gunter (GK), Cook, Boldewijn, Kretzschmar, Obiero (Walker, 60′), Randall (Carayol, 60′), Mariappa (C) (Hutchinson, 46′), Reid, McAvoy (Ashford, 86′), Grant, Sohna (Dyer, 46′)

Unused subs: Baptiste (GK), Gerogiou

Goals: Walker (69′), Reid (76′, 88′)

Yellow cards: Cook (28′), Randall (58′)

Eastleigh: McDonnell (GK), Brindley, Humphries (Semenyo, 46′), Fernandez, Francillette, McCallum (C) (Maguire, 73′), Shade (Quigley, 59′), Hodson, Boutin, Close (Waruih, 74′), Underhill (Taylor, 59′)

Unused subs: Scott (GK), Panter

Goals: Francillette (2′, 35′), Shade (40′)

Yellow cards: Fernandez (13′), McDonnell (77′)

Referee: Wayne Cartmel

Attendance: TBC

Report by Matthew Gibbs