RICHARD Hill professed himself “thoroughly disappointed” as Eastleigh’s away campaign ended on a flat note at Solihull Moors.

Much emphasis had been placed on taking pride in their performance having secured National League survival with a 2-1 Easter Monday triumph over Bromley.

But that message did not get through at Damson Park where the Spitfires were distinctly second best against a Moors side whose 2-0 victory ensured that they too will be staying up.

Eastleigh never recovered from falling two down inside 23 minutes to a Regan Charles-Cook wonder strike and Simeon Maye’s header from a poorly dealt-with corner.

Moors also smacked the woodwork twice on an afternoon when the best Eastleigh could muster were half-chances for Hakeem Odoffin and Ben Close.

In Hill’s eyes it was just “not good enough” for a club of Eastleigh’s high expectations. But, looking at the bigger picture, the director of football/caretaker boss said the most important thing was maintaining their top-flight status.

“At the end of the day the players have done brilliant in respect of keeping us in the league,” he said.

“Some of the performances have not been good enough, but I came back with one remit from the chairman and that was to keep this club in the Conference National.

“If my remit had been to play fast-flowing, brilliant football I’d have failed, but we’ve done enough to get the points we needed.

“The wins at Chester and Torquay were massive for us and you have to give the players credit for going to those places and winning.

“But there’s been no in between with us. When we lose, we lose abysmally.”

Such inconsistency was practically unheard of during Hill’s previous stint in charge.

This time, though, his hands have been tied by the shambles he inherited when he returned in late February.

He took over a team in chaos and deserves huge credit for restoring some sanity to a mad season that had seen three managers and countless players whizzing in and out of the revolving Silverlake door.

“We’ve got players whose contracts are up now and others who’ve got another two years and I’d like to stress that this is a situation I’ve inherited, not created,” said Hill.

“We managed our own survival last week but we’ve still got self-pride to play for – and today I didn’t see a lot of that personally.

“We’ve got lads running round now trying to gain a contract for next season and it’s not good enough in my opinion.

“But the main thing is that we’re staying up.

“I’m not one to blow my own trumpet, but who knows what could have happened if I hadn’t come back? I’ll let the supporters work that out for themselves.”

Along with goalkeeper Josh Barnes, signed on an emergency loan from Derby County, Eastleigh handed a league debut to home-grown left-back Jack Masterton at Solihull.

“He’s a tidy, little footballer and I just wanted to have a look and see where we go with him,” said Hill.

“Jack's not had the opportunities he could perhaps have had here. Wrongly, in my opinion, there have been a couple of other young left-backs that have been elevated ahead of him.”

While 14th-placed Eastleigh must win their final game at home to Wrexham on Saturday (12.15pm) to stand any chance of a top-half finish, table-topping Lincoln City are on their way back to the Football League.

Danny Cowley's Imps secured the title and automatic promotion with a 2-1 home win over Macclesfield.

Saluting worthy champions, Hill said: "Congratulations to Lincoln. They were the team that ground out the results and well done to them for that."