The Spitfires snatch a late point on their travels, following a hard fought contest with Dagenham & Redbridge.

Niall Maher scored his first ever Eastleigh goal just ten minutes into it, before Josh Umerah quickly cancelled his goal out.

Junior Morias found the back of the net with a wonder strike just before half-time, with what looked to be the winner until Paul McCallum fired home during injury-time to snatch a late point for the Spitfires.

Chris Maguire marked a positive start for the Spitfires by having the first go on goal of the game in just the sixth minute, with a free-kick from around 25-yards out. His shot would sail over the crossbar.

Maher then went on to open his Spitfires account in the 10th minute with a superb strike. Jake Taylor lofted the ball into the box with a free-kick from deep, the ball bounced down before finding itself at Maher’s feet. He unleashed a shot that was too powerful for Elliot Justham, and saw it fly into the back of the net.

The home side equalised ten minutes after this. Following a bit of a scramble in the box, Umerah was the man who eventually managed to put the ball over the line.

In response to the leveller, the Spitfires pushed to go back in front. A few good chances came our way, one of them being a volley that was struck by Jake Taylor on the edge of the box that forced Justham into making a diving save.

Scott Quigley found the back of the net in the 35th minute, with a close-range effort, but was disappointed to have it chalked off as offside. The Spitfires would continue to push to get back ahead from there.

The next attempt on goal came just a few minutes later, with Quigley being the one to get the shot off again. This time, he struck it from a tight angle, and saw it blaze it’s way across the face of goal and just wide of the mark.

Against the run of play, in the 40th minute to hosts put themselves in front. A pinpoint effort from Morias found it’s way into the top left corner from range to give the home side the lead going into the interval.

Ryan Hill came close to putting the hosts further ahead just after the break. He struck the ball with power from range, only to see it get tipped over crossbar by Joe McDonnell in impressive fashion.

Moments later, the Spitfires went up the other end. In an attempt to level the scoring, Quigley was able to unleash a shot from inside the box, but saw the ball cannon back off the post.

Josh Rees tried to add another to the Daggers’ tally in the 68th minute, with a shot from inside the box that stung the palms of McDonnell, who did well to deny his venomous effort.

With 15 minutes remaining, the Spitfires came close to levelling it. Angel Waruih whipped the ball into the box, Ludwig Francillette then controlled it into the path of McCallum who curled the ball towards the target, but was denied by Justham, who got down low to stop his shot.

A couple of minutes into injury-time, McCallum popped up with a header to level things up. Jake Vokins whipped a perfect cross into his path before he powered the ball beyond Justham.

Richard Brindley was sent off after receiving a second yellow card with a couple of minutes remaining, for denying Dagenham from going on a counter attack. His teammates would go on to hold out and earn a hard fought point.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Justham (GK) (C), Hessenthaler (Stephenson, 90+5′), Eastman, Phipps, Ree, Umerah, Hill, N’Guessan, Crichlow, Rutherford (Kalambayi, 85′), Morias (Pereira, 74′)

Unused subs: Woodhouse, Vincent, Remy, Vigrass

Goals: Umerah (20′), Morias (40′)

Yellow cards: Crichlow (24′)

Eastleigh: McDonnell (GK), Brindley, Fernandez (McCallum, 60′), Francillette, Maguire (Shade, 60′), Taylor (C), Hodson (McDonald, 84′), Waruih, Quigley, Boutin (Vokins, 90+2′), Maher

Unused subs: Scott (GK), Gape, Panter

Goals: Maher (10′), McCallum (90+3′)

Yellow cards: Maguire (45+2′), Taylor (62′), Brindley (70′), Francillette (71′)

Red cards: Brindley (90+5′)

Referee: Stephen Parkinson

Attendance: 1,258 (26 away)

Report by Matthew Gibbs