By Harvey Gerring

Aaron Blair’s stunning volley against his former side wasn’t enough for Eastleigh as they fell to a 3-1 loss against Braintree Town.

Eastleigh battled hard to break down a stubborn Braintree defence but saw themselves unsuccessful coming away from the Silverlake Stadium with zero points, despite a magnificent finish from Aaron Blair in the first half.

Kelvin Davis made one change from the side that drew against Halifax Town a week ago. Archie Harris was reintroduced to the starting XI following his recovery from a concussion against Scunthorpe United at the start of the month, which resulted in the game being abandoned.  Harris filled in for suspended Aaron Pierre after he received his fifth yellow card of the season at Halifax. Josh Lundstram also returned to the bench after his injury against Forest Green Rovers saw him on the sidelines for a few weeks.

Eight minutes in, Braintree Town gave Eastleigh an early scare when Chay Cooper received the ball from a cleared Eastleigh corner and led a wandering counter-attack which he put just wide. The first ten minutes allowed both sides a couple of opportunities to go ahead.

After the Iron’s early chance, they maintained possession and put pressure on Eastleigh’s defence.

Archie Harris made things awkward for Mason Terry in between the sticks after 19 minutes when his deflected cross off of Manny Omore saw itself land just in front of the far post which was swiftly cleared away.

Just three minutes later, the Spitfires took flight when Sonnie Davis delivered a whipped cross across the Braintree penalty area which Aaron Blair hit with a magnificent volley into the bottom left corner, putting Eastleigh ahead against his former side.

In the 27th minute, Eastleigh were forced into an early substitution with Jordan Cousins being replaced by Josh Lundstram down the right-hand side.

Eastleigh had a chance to cause further trouble for Braintree in the 30th minute when Frankie Terry slipped allowing Aaron Blair to phase past him and win a free kick off of Aidan Francis-Clarke, nearly adjacent to the corner flag outside of the penalty area. The resulting free kick saw Harvey Saunders receive the ball just outside the six-yard box, which he couldn’t control and was eventually cleared away.

Braintree levelled it up five minutes later when Chay Cooper played a low corner to the edge of the box which Terrell Works lashed first time into the top corner; Nick Townsend got fingertips to the ball, but it was too powerful to keep out.

A set-piece saw a couple of Eastleigh defenders have a go at sneaking a lead moments before half-time. Firstly, Luis Fernandez had a shot which was deflected before it fell to Eweka, whose shot also rebounded to Jake Taylor, who put it wide on the Spitfires’ third bite of the cherry.

Despite a slow start from Eastleigh, they grew into the game, which saw the first half end level.

The first ten minutes of the second half had both teams settling back into the game until Harvey Saunders took a low driven shot across the goal which Mason Terry got a firm hand to pushing the ball away from danger.

What followed was an extended break in play as Luis Fernandez required attention from the medical staff at the start of the 61st minute due to a head injury just outside of the penalty area.

After treatment for ten minutes, it was determined that the defender couldn’t continue and was subsequently substituted for Louie Holzman.

Once play restarted, the Iron took the lead through Tommy Blackwell in the 78th minute. The substitute was forced wide and squeezed it along the ground underneath Townsend who couldn’t get down quickly enough to save it.

The Spitfires proceeded to play with vigour as they hunted for a late equaliser in the five remaining minutes of regular time. A ball over the top of Braintree’s defence was met by Harvey Saunders who attempted to head the ball over Terry in goal, but was unsuccessful as the goalkeeper got a strong hand to push the ball out for a corner.

The fourth official indicated twelve minutes of additional time, with Kelvin Davis trying to force a last-minute goal by pushing his players upfield.

Braintree capitalised on Eastleigh’s exposed defence in the last moments of the game by placing a long ball towards Tommy Blackwell down the right-hand side, who cut in and finished the game in the 100th minute to make it 3-1.