Eastleigh 3 County 1

ON Saturday County played ugly and won well, last night at Eastleigh they played ugly and lost horribly.

This was a horror show from the Exiles, the first half especially an embarrassment for the large number of supporters who made the trek over the Severn Bridge.

The Exiles were disturbingly lacklustre, the Eastleigh players appeared to want it more, they were first to every loose ball and County were second best in every department.

With the exception of striker Craig Hughes who worked his socks off and substitute Kris Leek who was excellent, it is no exaggeration to say that every County player had a nightmare.

When nine or 10 players all under-perform in the same game the result is only ever going to be defeat and 3-1 flattered County.

That being said, with Eastleigh being near the bottom of the Conference South they aren't the most confident bunch and when Hughes' excellent strike made the score 2-1 after 51 minutes the Exiles could well have gone on to get an ill-deserved point.

Predictably however, County gave away a soft goal and meekly surrendered, the notion of promotion is fanciful at best and absurd at worst based on last night' s spineless display.

On the plus side the Exiles have bounced back from other turgid displays this season and have proved their resilience, hopefully they will react in exactly the right way to the embarrassment of last night's mauling.

Eastleigh had already come close twice when on 11 minutes County had a rare attack which could have led to a penalty, Francis Benali certainly appearing to handle after Jason Bowen attempted to cross.

However, any feeling of injustice disappeared on 17 minutes when Mark Ovendale miraculously escaped a red card as Eastleigh won the penalty which gave them the lead.

Ian Hillier's header towards Ovendale didn't have the legs and as the keeper rushed out to collect he clattered striker Steve Watts who nipped in ahead of him.

It was a certain penalty and by the letter of the law simply had to be a red card. Referee Colin Lymer was the only person in the ground who deemed it to be a yellow card offence.

Ovendale nearly rubbed salt in the wounds by diving the right way, but Andy Forbes' spot-kick was perfectly placed and the home side were deservedly ahead.

Two minutes later and it was two, skipper John Brough and Stewart Edwards did their impression of Moses' parting of the Red Sea to allow Danny Smith a mile of room to poke home Forbes' tantalising cross.

Forbes, a scourge of County in the past, surprisingly played out of position on the right-wing; but it proved to be a decent decision as he won everything against Damon Searle who found little protection from Richard Evans.

Similarly Bowen was equally poor on the right of midfield and for 30 minutes central pair Nathan Davies and Lee Collier might as well not have been on the pitch, Smith and Liam Green ran them ragged.

Only the enforced substitution of Kris Leek (who came on for a hobbling Lee Collier after a 15 minute break because of a floodlight failure) stemmed the tide of Eastleigh attacks, but by that stage Smith had missed a free header from six yards out that should have made it 3-0.

Hughes saw a decent shot saved by goalkeeper James Pullen seconds before a half-time rocket from manager Peter Beadle and after the interval the Exiles did respond for 20 minutes or so.

Leek's super pass freed Hughes on 51 minutes and the striker controlled excellently and beat a defender before a curling a shot low into the bottom left-hand corner for his 19th goal this season.

Hughes and Brough then both came close after a Searle freekick cannoned around the Eastleigh box before Evans' cross found Charlie Griffin unmarked on 68 minutes, but he headed over.

It was a decisive blow, two minutes later County failed to clear and Smith's pass found an unmarked Forbes who turned and fired low past Ovendale. The fightback ended there.

Eastleigh: Pullen, Mustafa, Benali, Brown, West, El-Salahi, Smith, Forbes, Watts (Wilson-Denis 83), Green, Wheeler (Oliver 66) Subs not used: Marshall, George, Harris Booked: El-Salahi (kicking ball away, 8), Smith (foul, 24), Benali (dissent 76), Watts (foul, 80) County: Ovendale, Hillier, Searle, Davies, Brough, Edwards (O'Sullivan 77), Bowen, Collier (Leek, 34), Griffin, Hughes, Evans Subs not used: Prosser, Brewer, Giles Booked: Ovendale (foul, 17), Brough (foul, 31) Referee: Colin Lymer Attendance: 623