Eastleigh ready to bounce back from Trophy despair

By Wendy Gee -

Eastleigh aren’t the first higher grade team to have lost to cup sensations Chasetown in the FA Trophy this season.

And on the evidence of Saturday’s 3-1 giant-killing at the Silverlake Stadium, they may not be the last.

But that will come as scant consolation for frustrated Spitfires boss Ian Baird who believes his side squandered a golden opportunity to reach the quarter-finals of non-league’s premier cup competition for the first time in their history.

Conference National duo Kettering and Grimsby had already been outwitted by the Scholars of Staffordshire, but Eastleigh failed to heed the warning signs.

It was only after falling a goal behind on 31 minutes that they started playing anything like the side that had won six out of their previous seven Blue Square Bet South games.

Though they deservedly clawed their way back on terms through Jamie Slabber after the break, they had not reckoned on the brilliance of visiting keeper Ryan Price or Chasetown’s ability to ruffle their defensive feathers even without injured star strikers Gary Birch and Dean Perrow.

“We feel disappointed because we know we’ve thrown away a massive opportunity to get into the last eight,”

“And we’ve sealed our own fate by the poor goals we’ve conceded,” said Baird, whose side were sunk by strikes from Richard Davies, Danny Smith and Ben Jevons. “But all credit to Chasetown. They were on the back foot, but as soon as we gave them a leg up with the second goal, they worked extremely hard, sat in there and did a job on us. Their keeper was outstanding.

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we have to take it on the chin and go again now.

“My teams always bounce back,” he added, with one eye already on tomorrow’s BSB South trip to Ebbsfleet United.

Eastleigh skipper Tom Jordan, who was presented with January’s BSB South player-of-the-month award before kick-off, reflected: “With the way Chasetown had done in the previous two rounds, we expected a strong outfit to come here and they were everything we thought they’d be.

"They’re very fit, very together, very organised and they battle hard – a classic cup team.

“I thought we’d take the game on from 1-1, but they blocked us out and stayed strong as a unit.”