All yesterday’s action from the National Leagues
VERDICT: A drab first half was followed by a lively second as Eastleigh brought an end to their goal and win drought at the expense of in-form Hartlepool
FOR Eastleigh this was worth the wait. The Spitfires have found wins, and goals, hard to come by since beating the highly-fancied Tranmere last month.
But the injury-ravaged squad halted the five-match run without a victory by winning the proverbial game of two halves at in-form Hartlepool United.
The opening 45 minutes was drab in the extreme, one shot and two corners was as good as it got at Victoria Park.
However, the second period exploded into life with two away goals inside six minutes.
Callum Howe squeezed in the first in the 47th minute from a corner before Mark Yeates scored a beauty to double the lead.
Pools sent on all three substitutes and piled on the pressure, one of them, Jack Munns pulling a last-minute goal back.
But it was too little, too late as the visitors clinched their first away win of the season.
Eastleigh boss Richard Hill hailed the quantity and the quality in his squad. “The lads have done great,” he said.
“The first goal was scrappy but there have been times this season when we’ve felt the world was against us, so I think we deserved that. The second was a very good goal, but that’s Yeatsy, he’s had a very good career. As soon as he took that touch, he knew what he was going to do.”
There was little in the first half to indicate what was to come, with Ryan Donaldson’s shot from the edge of the box the only effort at goal. Eastleigh were not short in the presence department, so when Pools could not clear Eastleigh’s second corner, Howe prodded home. And when Pools failed to contend with another set-piece in the 52nd-minute, Yeates beat Scott Loach with a sumptuous finish from the right side of the box. Pools came to life thanks to subs Devante Rodney and Connor Simpson. Rodney should have pulled one back in the 67th minute only for Graham Stack to stay big and make a great save while Simpson shot over moments later. Stack made two further stops from Rodney but he was beaten in the last minute by a fine leftfoot finish from Munns from just outside the area. It brought a shuddering halt to United’s five-match unbeaten sequence. Pools boss Craig Harrison shrugged: “We had enough opportunities to win the game. “We probably had more opportunities here than we had against Dagenham, Wrexham and Leyton Orient put together. “The difference was in those games we defended set-plays really well. Here our defending at set-plays was really poor.” STAR MAN: Mark Yeates (Eastleigh) ATT: 3,374 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Marc Edwards 6/10