Hartlepool deal another blow to Eastleigh as a fantastic team goal helps down the Spitfires

Credit: Elliot Norton

The defeat at the Silverlake Stadium means that Eastleigh are now five games without a win in all competitions, a run of form which sees them down in 14th in the league table, while Hartlepool move into 8th, just five points away from the playoff spots.

Eastleigh lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, which they have used for the first time last week in their one-all draw with Carlisle after the departure of striker Luke Skinner.

The only slight change was that Kieron Evans started up front, as Harvey Saunders was moved to left midfield.

The main changes for Eastleigh were on the bench as Aaron Blair returned to the squad since he picked up a hamstring injury against Solihull back in September.

Alongside Blair on the bench was new signing James Waite, who made his first appearance on the team sheet after signing on loan from Weston-super-Mare mid-week.

Hartlepool moved away from their usual 4-1-4-1 and 4-2-3-1 formations for the game, adopting a 4-3-2-1 formation, which saw forward Adam Campbell tuck in to midfield to help with creativity.

The change in formation worked well for the visitors, who controlled the game in the midfield, playing some beautiful passes whilst Eastleigh struggled to keep up.

This was evident in the build-up to the first goal, as a well-worked team display led to the opener. Eight passes between several Hartlepool players moved the ball from deep within their own half to the edge of Eastleigh’s box and at the feet of their left back, Cameron John, who was left unmarked and in acres of space. His striker-like finish blasted past Nick Townsend, off the inside of the far post and into the back of the net.

Just four minutes later, and it was two-nil to the visitors as Eastleigh allowed Nathan Sheron too much space on the edge of the area. The midfielder’s left-footed strike curled into the near post, putting Hartlepool out of sight.

The only positives for Eastleigh were the return of Aaron Blair and the signing of new Welsh midfielder James Waite. Both came on in the 71st minute. Blair appeared to be back to his best, creating chances as he tried to get his team back into the game, but to no avail. Whilst Waite got his first minutes following his loan move from Weston-super-Mare.

As far as positives go, that’s it for Eastleigh as they were out-ran, outworked and outplayed by Hartlepool, especially in the second half. Eastleigh had very few chances on goal, the best of which was a shot by Paul McCallum that was directed straight at George Evans.

‘The squad is not as good as I thought it was’

Eastleigh manager Scott Bartlett told Winchester News Online:

“Just a realisation that the squad is not as good as I thought it was or I hoped it was, really. I thought we had made some really good progress, but that’s easy to do right at the beginning, and sometimes it takes a little bit of time for things to unfold properly.”

‘We have got one or two who are not good enough for the level’

“I think we have got one or two that either can not do it consistently for us or are not good enough for the level. I’ll be brutally honest; I have been honest with them, I always am. There is no hiding place. You know we are all out there together, we are all in it together. The bottom line is we have to be better than that, and we have not been better than that consistently, I don’t think.”

‘We are a couple of months in, and we do not know what our best team is still’

I picked the team I thought deserved to play, based on their efforts last week. But as I just said, we can’t seem to follow that up two games running at the moment, which is really frustrating. You know, we are a couple of months in, and we do not know what our best team is still. There are some reasons for that, with people coming back from injury, we have had suspensions and international call-ups, but we are still none the wiser in terms of what is going to consistently get us results.”