The Spitfire are beaten by Aldershot Town at the EBB Stadium, following a late resurgence from the home side.

The two sides went into break goalless, before Ludwig Francillette opened the scoring less than five minutes after the restart.

Substitutes Jack Barham and Ryan Jones then went on to score for the hosts late on, giving them the win.

10 minutes into it, Chris Maguire had an opportunity to open the scoring following an error from Marcus Dewhurst that left him out of position. Maguire bent his shot towards goal from range, but saw Dewhurst scramble back across goal just in time to catch his effort.

Aldershot’s first chance of the game came around five minutes after this, with Josh Barrett having a shot blocked on the edge of the box superbly by Luis Fernandez. The ball then went out for a corner that would result in nothing.

They then had back to back chances to score, with McDonnell being forced into making two big saves. The first chance came when Cameron Hargreaves took aim from the edge of the box, forcing McDonnell into making a diving save. The second chance was a close-range effort from Theo Widdrington, who looked set to score but blasted his effort straight at McDonnell.

Ashley Akpan had a powerful shot blocked on the edge of the box just after the half hour mark, with McDonnell holding the deflected effort well in the middle of his goal.

McDonnell made another great save a few minutes later, denying a strike from Lachlan Byrd this time round.

On the stroke of half-time, the Spitfires looked set to take then lead. Paul McCallum laid the ball into the path of Francillette in the box, he struck the ball goalwards, forcing Dewhurst to get down low to deny him from opening the scoring.

Just after the break, the Spitfires took the lead of the game. Fernandez headed a corner across goal into the path of Francillette who would make no mistake this time round. He headed the ball home from close-range before running off to celebrate with his teammates.

New signing, Dominic Gape came on just after the hour mark to make his debut for the Spitfires.

Substitute Barham brought things back level in the 71st minute with a shot from close-range.

He came close to grabbing a second moments later, after a ball was played over the top into his path. His effort was denied by McDonnell with a smart stop.

Ryan Jones put the Shots in front in the 79th minute, with another close-range effort that found the back of the net.

The hosts pushed to add another to their tally in the following 10 minutes or so, but could not find the back of the net.

Scott Quigley and Jake Vokin could not find the back of the net with a couple of late chances, meaning it would end in defeat for the Spitfires at the EBB Stadium.

Aldershot Town: Dewhurst (GK), Byrd, Widdrington, Hargreaves, Barrett (R Jones, 59′), A Jones (C), Scott (Frost, 66′), Akpan, Ghandour (Barham, 62′), Menayese, Henry (Mullins, 87′)

Unused subs: Van Stappershoef (GK), Corbett, Maja

Goals: Barham (71′), R Jones (79′)

Yellow cards: Ghandour (42′), Widdrington (59′)

Eastleigh: McDonnell (GK), Vokins, Fernandez, Francillette (Brindley, 75′), Maguire (Gape, 62′), Taylor (C) (McDonald, 88′), McCallum, Shade (Semenyo, 77′), Waruih, Quigley, Maher

Unused subs: Scott (GK), Hodson, Panter

Goals: Francillette (49′)

Yellow cards: Quigley (18′), Maguire (40′), Shade (68′), Fernandez (70′), McCallum (83′)

Referee: Callum Walchester

Attendance: 3037 (374 away)

Report by Matthew Gibbs