SPITFIRES ARE STANDING UP!
KELVIN Davis hailed his Eastleigh for standing up when it matters in the National League’s run-in pressure cooker.
Solomon Nwabuokei’s first-half header ultimately banked the Spitfires three crucial points in this tightest of scraps in the bottom half of the table.
Victory saw Davis’ side jump over Woking to 15th ahead of another potentially pivotal clash with Maidenhead United tomorrow.
“You always take a 1-0 win, at whatever level, away from home – certainly from a set piece,” Davis beamed. “But there was something more profound about today. It was a big day, start of the weekend with the two fixtures so close, if we could get off to a win it can relax you a bit more going into the second game on Monday.
“When you add a bit of pressure knowing what the result will mean, it’s difficult to play fluid football and it’s difficult for the lads to relax. So I was really pleased they took that challenge on and stood up to a Woking team who have been very effective in recent weeks.”
That Eastleigh were even able to lead on 28 minutes was thanks to keeper Joe McDonnell.
The Spitfires stopper made four crucial saves in eight minutes to keep the scores level as Woking constantly threatened.
The first was a flying fingertip save at full stretch to push Curtis Edwards’ fierce drive over.
Next, he thwarted Alan Judge at his near post before another sprawling save to push the former Brentford and Ipswich man’s curling shot away.
They were followed by a brilliant low block with his foot from Alfie Pavey’s point-blank effort.
The Cards also had a penalty shout turned down after Kevin Berkoe slipped the ball through Oscar Rutherford’s legs but felt he was bundled over close to the byline.
Woking keeper Will Jaaskelainen had largely been a spectator until that point, his first real action getting down low to push a wicked deflection on Jake Taylor’s shot behind.
But when he didn’t get near a deep corner delivery from Chris Maguire, Nwabuokei was able to head into an empty net.
The goal sapped the early energy out of the Cards although they nearly levelled on the stroke of halftime when Dan Moss arrived on time for Judge’s cross only for his header to kiss the crossbar on its way over.
But aside from Davis’ slightly bizarre red card for flicking a ball away, there were few talking points apart from a penalty shout on Woking’s Jayden Luker that was denied.
“It’s just that final ball,” Cards boss Michael Doyle said. “We concede from a set-piece – I don’t think they’ve had a shot from open play – we dominate the game but we came up a bit short.”