The Spitfires beat Yeovil Town at the Silverlake Stadium, thanks to a first-half goal from Chris Maguire.

Maguire’s goal put Eastleigh ahead at the half hour mark, with a superb finish. Following this, a well disciplined display on the defensive helped the Spitfires on their way to securing the three points.

Kelvin Davis made three changes from his side that drew with Barnet on Friday, with Maguire, Angel Waruih and Jai Semenyo coming in for Jake Taylor, Paul McCallum and Lee Hodson. With Taylor missing out through injury, Maguire donned the captains armband.

The Spitfires came inches away from taking the lead of the game inside the first minute. Maguire attempted to pick out one of his teammates with a cross, but would see his pass get deflected. The ball would then twist it’s way onto the top of the crossbar, before bouncing out of play.

With the next chance of the game, the visitors looked set to put themselves in front. Otis Khan was picked out in the box, and blasted a shot towards goal. Luis Fernandez got across impressively and blocked the shot to keep it goalless.

Eastleigh had the next attempt on goal in the 16th minute. Jai Semenyo tried to play Ben Close through on goal, but would see his pass come right back at him after being blocked by the Yeovil defence. He would then make the most of a gap that had formed, and unleashed a left footed shot on goal. His effort was gathered well by Aidan Stone in the centre of the goal.

Just over ten minutes later, Semenyo tested Stone again. This time, he ran at the Yeovil defence, and showed some skill before pelting the ball towards the target. Stone was forced into making a diving save to keep things level.

A superb passage of play on the half hour mark put the Spitfires ahead. Waruih played a well weighted pass into the path of Maguire on the edge of the box, who would then pick out the bottom left corner of the goal, with a perfectly placed shot.

Otis Khan was given his marching orders in the 37th minute, after losing his head during an off the ball incident with Maguire, leaving his side with just ten men for the remainder of the match.

Tyrese Shade almost managed to give Eastleigh a second just before the break, but would see his angled shot get saved well by Stone. A couple of minutes later, referee Harry Wager would blow his whistle, calling an end to an action packed half of football.

Nathan Tshikuna floated a cross onto the head of Paul McCallum in the 64th minute, giving Eastleigh their first real opportunity of the second-half. McCallum was unable to generate enough power on his shot to beat Stone, and would see his shot get caught well by the Yeovil ‘keeper.

Following this, there was a closely contested 20 minutes, with neither side managing to get any real shots off on goal. This came to an end when Josh Sims blazed a shot just over the crossbar in the 84th minute.

The Spitfires would go on and see out the win, after holding firm on the defensive end for the remainder of the game. The win meant that Eastleigh leapfrogged Yeovil in the league standings, moving back up into the top half of the table.

Eastleigh: McDonnell (GK), Fernandez, Francillette, Maguire (C) (Brindley, 73′), Shade, Waruih, Panter, Boutin (Vokins, 46′), Close, Semenyo (McCallum, 57′), Tshikuna (Hodson, 75′)

Unused subs: Scott (GK), Humphries, Underhill

Goals: Maguire (30′)

Yellow cards: Waruih (77′)

Yeovil Town: Stone (GK), Williams (C), Cousin-Dawson, Kite (Cooper, 76′), Lo-Everton, Wilson, Smith (Sims, 54′), Greenslade (McGuckin, 54′), Lavinier (Twamley, 83′), Khan, Terry

Unused subs: Gould (GK), Whittle, Bernard

Yellow cards: Kite (20′), Cousin-Dawson (82′)

Red cards: Khan (37′)

Referee: Harry Wager

Attendance: 2,657 (642 away)

Report by Matthew Gibbs