HILL LEAVES SPITFIRES AFTER FLEET HUMBLING
EASTLEIGH are looking for their third manager of the season after Richard Hill left the club by mutual consent following this defeat.
The Spitfires are without a win in 12 matches in all competitions and have sunk to within four points of the relegation zone.
And they had no answer to Danny Searle’s Ebbsfleet here as three goals in the space of 14 minutes early in the second half, from debutant Bryant Bilongo, Rakish Bingham and Luke O’Neill clinched a vital win in their bid tio beat the drop.
“Everything that’s going on at the minute is going on so we have to reflect,” Hill said just min- utes before Eastleigh announced his departure. “I have to reflect this weekend, and see what happens.
“We’ve conceded from two set pieces. Before every game we assign players to mark. It’s not a blame game or a fault but if you’re meant to mark a man, you’re meant to mark them. If your man scores, you have to do better.”
In stark contrast, Searle celebrated being given the permanent manager’s job at Stonebridge Road in fine style by picking up his first win in the hotseat.
“The bounce, vibe and intensity we had in training has been outstanding this week and we saw the benefits of that,” Searle added.
“I thought we were good in the first half and the second half was all about can we go up another gear and we proved that we can.
“It was really small detail in the first half that cost us good goalscoring opportunities. In the second half we could have scored six or seven with the quality and intensity of our play.”
Eastleigh’s Paul McCallum had the best chance of the first half. Strike partner Scott Quigley did well to force an error out of Fleet centre-back Declan Skura and the ball fell perfectly for McCallum, who diverted his effort wide of the upright from 15 yards out.
At the other end, Ebbsfleet started to get into their stride with the excellent Bilongo – on loan from Middlesbrough – linking up well down the left with Myles Kenlock. Luke O’Neill saw a long-range shot turned behind for a corner while Dominic Poleon saw calls for a penalty waved away by referee Garreth Rhodes.
It took the hosts just three minutes of the second half to find the breakthrough. Skipper Josh Wright’s corner was met by the head of Bilongo, whose effort was deemed to have crossed the line despite the best efforts of a covering defender.
Poleon then saw his shot blocked before Bilongo provided an inch-perfect cross for Bingham to make it 2-0 on 53 minutes.
Poleon again went close before another Wright corner set up the third just past the hour – O’Neill finding space in the penalty area to direct his header into the far corner.
Sub Dominic Samuel was denied a fourth late on by keeper Joe McDonnell. STAR MAN: Bryant Bilongo (Ebbsfleet) ATT: 1,617 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Garreth Rhodes