Farnborough 6 Eastleigh 2 (From This is Hampshire)

Honeymoon over for Hill

10:42pm Tuesday 2nd October 2012 in Hampshire Sport

Eastleigh crashed to a first defeat in four games under new manager Richard Hill, thrashed 6-2 at Farnborough in Blue Square South.

The Spitfires trailed 3-1 down at half-time and a 64th-minute own goal by Mitchell Nelson soon put them 6-1 down.

Farnborough took a 2-0 lead inside the opening 21 minutes through Daniel Bennet and Nic Ciardini.

Moses Ademola pulled a goal back but he was soon booked for dissent and so was Adam Everitt when Eastleigh went 3-1 down to Reece Connolly's 33rd-minute strike.

Connolly put Farnborough 4-1 up on the hour and Josh Huggins added a fifth before Nelson netted past poor Jack Dovey.

Eastleigh won at Farnborough in the FA Cup last month but could only muster an 88th-minute consolation from substitute Jai Reason - his third in two games - during the last half hour.

After beginning with three successive wins, Hill's honeymoon period as Eastleigh manager is over. He is now looking for a new assistant after confirming the departure of Shaun Wilkinson.

Hill said: ''Shaun was a big help when I first arrived but I think it's important that any manager should have his own staff working with him.''

Eastleigh co-owner Stewart Donald added: ''I know Richard will be keen to find a suitable replacement and any announcement will follow in due course.''
 

Elsewhere, Salisbury City extended their lead at the top of Blue Square South to three points with a 4-0 thrashing of nearest rivals Dorchester Town.

Stuart Sinclair opened the scoring in the ninth minute and Chris McPhee scored in each half either side of a 53rd-minute goal from former Eastleigh striker Robbie Matthews.