SAM SIGNS OFF IN STYLE – BUT MAY YET RETURN
SAM MATTHEWS signed off his loan spell with Eastleigh with a dazzling hat-trick but boss Andy Hessenthaler suggested it might not been the last time the 21-year-old pulls on a Spitfires shirt.
Eastleigh turned the form tables upside down to hand a first defeat in 11 matches on Moors, with Paul McCallum adding to Matthews’ treble before Adi Yussuf pulled a goal back for the hosts.
Midfielder Matthews’ form has earned him two player of the year awards with Eastleigh but his future is uncertain after parent club Bournemouth announced they would be releasing him.
Hessenthaler said: “Sam has been released which is a bit of a negative but he can go off on his holidays on a positive note. He has been fantastic for us.
“At the moment he is leaving us and we will wish him well. But I wouldn’t rule out him wearing an Eastleigh shirt again.”
Despite making five changes to the line-up which secured their National League status with a midweek win at Tranmere, Moors started brightly and could have been three goals ahead within half-an-hour.
Gavin Hoyte cleared Alex Reid’s shot off the line after the striker had rounded keeper Mark Childs, Fiacre Kelleher glanced a George Carline cross wide and Chris Lait dragged an excellent chance wide.
Eastleigh had not won in their previous five outings but once Matthews opened the scoring on 33 minutes they went from strength to strength. Ben Williamson laid off Chris Zebroski’s pass into Matthews’ path just inside area and he swept home a perfect finish past keeper Sheridan Martinez. Two goals in a threeminute spell just after the break wrapped up the points for the visitors and left Matthews with his first senior hat-trick. His second was an absolute screamer, picking the ball up midway through the Moors half and striding forward to smash home, before he rammed a rebound into the net after McCallum’s back-heel was blocked in a goalmouth scramble. Matthews’ trickery led to 4-0, providing the rightwing cross for McCallum to bundle home on 69 minutes before the home fans had something to cheer when substitute Yussuf won possession in the inside right channel, held off a challenge and fired in an unstoppable shot. The result meant a first league defeat at the ATG Stadium for Moors manager Mark Yates. “It’s put a bit of a dampener, like the weather, on the final game of the season but it shouldn’t detract from what we’ve achieved this season,” said the boss, who took over in November with Moors bottom of the table. “We had one aim when we came in – to stay in the league. We’ve achieved that with a couple of games to go. We allowed them to take the game away from us.”