WIN GIVES SPITFIRES A WYNTER WARMER!

ALEX WYNTER headed a dramatic late winner as Eastleigh claimed a rare home success against struggling Dagenham & Redbridge.

The centre-half rose at the back post to nod in an 89th-minute Mark Yeates corner to give the Spitfires their first Saturday home league win since January 27, and only their third in 13 Silverlake outings.

Wynter shared the plaudits, though, with ex-Polish youth international goalkeeper Max Stryjek. The 22-year-old, making his debut after joining on a month’s loan from Sunderland following the retirement of Graham Stack, dived to his right to save a penalty in first half injury-time.

Oscar Gobern was penalised by whistlehappy ref Peter Gibbons for a challenge on Matt Robinson on the edge of the 18-yard box, but Stryjek got down well to save Chike Kandi’s fairly tame spot-kick.

Eastleigh boss Andy Hessenthaler gave Spitfires’ goalkeeping coach Ross Flitney some credit for that, saying: “Ross had seen that Kandi had taken one penalty this season and put it to the keeper’s right, and passed that on to Max.”

The hosts ended with 10 men after a somewhat bizarre incident ended with five-goal top scorer Paul McCallum receiving a second yellow card.

McCallum was dismissed, even though he didn’t actually commit a second foul, pulling his foot away late on, and Hessenthaler said: “It was disappointing – he was penalised for the intent rather than the contact.” Eastleigh produced some nice passing moves in the first half, but didn’t actually manage a single effort on target. It was a different story after the break, however, following the introduction of Chris Zebroski. Daggers keeper Elliot Justham produced two point blank saves to keep the scores level – one with his legs from McCallum’s shot and one with his hand to keep out Reda Johnson’s equally close range header. The lack of goals was no surprise, though. Prior to the game, both teams had only managed 18 between them in 22 league games – and Wynter became the first Eastleigh player other than McCallum to score since August 25 when he opened his Spitfires account. Daggers boss Peter Taylor said: “It’s always disappointing when you concede a goal like that from a set piece. You have to get the first touch when you defend set pieces. If you don’t, you’re in trouble. Hessenthaler added: “It feels good; a win and a clean sheet. Alex Wynter was excellent, and so was Max. Hopefully we can keep him beyond a month. A big ‘thanks’ to Sunderland for letting us have him.”