Altrincham 2 Eastleigh 1

A resolute Altrincham performance saw Neil Gibson's side claim a third Enterprise National League victory on the bounce at the expense of Eastleigh.

Alty made a fast start to the game at The J.Davidson Stadium, going ahead in the 13th minute through skipper Tom Crawford's third goal of the season.

Aidan Barlow carried the ball through the middle of the pitch on a quick break before putting Crawford through in the right channel and Altrincham's number 22 did the rest, beating Nick Townsend at his near post.

Despite Alty controlling the game for much of the half, Eastleigh grabbed an equaliser on 32 minutes when a mix up between Owen Evans and Jake Cooper gave former Robin Josh Lundstram the chance to sweep home from inside the penalty area.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, at least initially, as Alty scored early doors. Liam Humbles rifling home a stunning strike from the left edge of the penalty area on 55 minutes to restore the home side's lead.

The visiting Spitfires tried to get themselves back into the game for a second time, and had plenty of the ball in the final 20 minutes, but couldn't find a way to break Alty's defence down.

And it was the home side who almost grabbed a third deep in stoppage time when Sam Taylor thundered a long-range shot against the crossbar. Nevertheless, Alty held out for a third win in eight days to send the majority Friday night crowd home happy.

Man Of The Match Otis Khan

Altrincham Evans; Banks, Cooper, Khan, Humbles, Barlow (Lopata-White, 85'), Knowles (Hemmings, 70'), Kosylo, Taylor, Crawford (c), Kirk (Reddin, 70'). Subs not used: Hinchy, Breckin, Firth, Barnes.

Eastleigh Townsend; Sidwell, Eweka, Dickov (Randall, 71'), Lundstram, Blair, Hawkins (Duku, 76'), Akoto (Rankine, 46'), Dobson-Ventura (Bakare, 87'), Khumbeni (Johnson, 87'), Cousins (c). Subs not used: Jeffries, Pierre.

HT 1-1

Goals Crawford 13', Humbles 55' | Lundstram 32'

Yellows Hemmings 85' | Cousins 8', Blair 81'

Reds None | None

Referee Aaron Jackson

Assistants Andrew Daniels & Anthony Moore

Fourth official Matthew Langdon

Attendance 1,626 (62 away)

Next Up

We head for Woking a week on Saturday - September 12th - in the Enterprise National League. Kick-off down in Surrey is at 3pm.

Standing and seating tickets for the away section at the Laithwaite Community Stadium are available from our hosts here.

(With thanks to Ayush Bhattacharjee & Manon Benevise for the photos)