Defeat to table toppers

Saturday 3rd March - Histon 1 Eastleigh 0

Report by Ray Murphy

Eastleigh returned from top of the table Histon with nothing to show for their endeavours on a particularly heavy surface. For Histon this recorded their fourth single goal victory in five games whilst for Eastleigh this was their seventh 0-1 reverse in the Nationwide South this season.

Jason Dodd gave a start to Liam Green for the first time in a league fixture since he took the managers role at the start of December. Green gave a solid performance that saw him denied a goal by an earlier infringement.

Histon opened the brighter. On four minutes a flowing move on the difficult surface involving Neil Kennedy, Jamie Barker and Nathaniel Knight-Percival ended with a shot from Barker being saved by James Pullen. A minute later Neil Kennedy got under a cross from Knight-Percival and his header went wide of the target.

Two further chances fell a minute later. Two crosses from Knight-Percival first saw a header from Kennedy produce an excellent stop by Pullen. Chris Collins half blocked Knight-Percival’s next cross but the ball fell for Neil Kennedy who saw Pullen smother across the face of his goal to claim the strikers effort.

Eastleigh’s first chance of the game fell on eleven minutes when a speculative overhead shot from Jamie Brown from a Tarkan Mustafa cross went wide. Play soon switched to the other end with the home side seeking their first goal. Midway thorough the opening half, Adrian Cambridge, who was the architect of several Histon attacks, prepared himself to flight a free kick into the Eastleigh penalty area. He surprised all by shooting for goal which brought another good save from Pullen, the ball coming back from Pullen only falling for Neil Kennedy who turned and shot wide.

Andy Forbes produced a cross from the right, following an inch perfect fifty-yard pass from David Hughes, on twenty-eight minutes and Histon goalkeeper Lance Key saved a diving Danny Smith header. Ten minutes later and Eastleigh were behind. Cambridge launched a long throw into the penalty area where the ball was flicked on, and at the far post Knight-Percival bundled the ball over the line despite the close attention of Smith and the ball entered the net via the underside of the bar.

It was not a good Eastleigh first half performance, but the second period saw a much better Spitfires display. Within five minutes of the restart Eastleigh thought they were level. Jamie Brown’s cross again arrived at the far post where Liam Green stroked the ball home but referee Mr Matthew McLaughlin had already blown for an earlier infringement in the area.

It was mainly Eastleigh attempts in the second period though Key in the Histon goal was not troubled too highly. From one Histon attack the unmarked Knight-Percival blazed a good chance wide. For the Spitfires they often created openings but were ineffective in the final third.

From a Green corner, Steve Watts flicked the ball on and Collins and Forbes got in each other’s way allowing Key to collect the ball. Watts later curled a free kick just wide of the target. The final chance of the game fell from a Darren Wheeler free kick, which saw another Smith header, saved by Key.