Maguire penalty completes fightback for Spitfires

Newport 1 Clarke 56 Eastleigh 1 Maguire 82 (pen)

THE Spitfires fought back bravely in the Battle of Britain as 10-man Eastleigh booked their place in tomorrow’s fourth round draw with a rousing display in south Wales.

Richard Hill’s side looked like they had been shot down when James Clarke put Newport ahead early in the second half, with Eastleigh’s George Langston having earlier been sent off for violent conduct.

But Chris Maguire slammed home a penalty eight minutes from time to take the tie back to Hampshire and keep Eastleigh’s cup dream alive.

‘We had to go for it,’ said Hill. ‘With 20 minutes to go we’d lost that game. We’d sailed by the seat of our pants, but we were resolute and felt a bit aggrieved and it motivated us.’

This was not the draw either club will have hoped for but, with £105,000 at stake for the winners, both were desperate to progress. It had already been a memorable run for the National League side, who beat Reading in round two.

For Newport it was a case of David becoming Goliath, with 18th place in League Two taking on 11th in the National League. The Welsh club have a proud cup history as underdogs, but here they were favourites and 4,966 fans packed in to Rodney Parade.

‘I was really pleased with our performance,’ said Newport boss Graham Coughlan. ‘We’re still in there fighting. We should have put the game to bed, but let’s give credit to Eastleigh. It was two really good teams who left everything on the pitch.’

With Eastleigh a man down for the entire second half, they almost took a surprise lead when Maguire hit the post just after the break. But then Clarke swept in Shane McLoughlin’s corner to put Newport in front.

With Hill throwing on his attacking substitutes as the game wore on, Eastleigh were given a penalty when Clarke dragged Paul McCallum down. Maguire stepped up and smashed it into the top corner to send the travelling support wild.