EASTLEIGH will be looking to bounce back from their first defeat of the season at home to Havant & Waterlooville this afternoon.

The Spitfires conceded their first goals of the campaign at Basingstoke Town on Saturday, going down 2-0 at The Camrose.

Basingstoke scored seven minutes from the end of each half, Jay Gasson’s 38th-minute header and Neil Barrett’s 83rd–minute strike proving the difference.

Michael Green hacked a Ross Adams header off the line early on, but Eastleigh had chances to take the lead.

Glen Southam was denied by Louis Wells, who pulled off an excellent save to deny Jai Reason, while Craig McAllister was always a threat against his former club. But, shortly after the angle of post and crossbar prevented Ross Flitney from conceding Robbie Rice’s cross-cum-shot, the Eastleigh keeper was picking the ball out of his net following Gasson’s second of the season from Manny Williams’ corner.

Eastleigh responded brightly at the start of the second half, with Reason beating both Gasson and Adams, before curling a good chance over the bar.

But it was not to be Eastleigh’s day, former Spitfire Robbie Matthews finding Barrett in space on the right side of the area, from where the ex-Pompey midfielder, a summer signing from Ebbsfleet, produced an unerring finish via the inside of the far post.

Eastleigh manager Richard Hill handed a debut appearance to new signing Romone Rose, a former QPR midfielder, in injury time, before saying: “We have not lost in a good manner. We had a good spell at the start of the second half but you cannot win football matches if you do not take the chances you get.

“We had chances in both halves and if you miss those, you are not going to get anything.

“The referee admitted that there was contact with Jai Reason early on, but said it was minimal, but they also should have had a penalty at the other end and there were a couple of strange handball decisions.

“Every game is crucial but we have only had three games and we have six points. For long spells we were the better side but we did not take our chances.”

Basingstoke manager Jason Bristow said: “We had a game plan, stuck to it and it worked. We stayed compact and stopped Eastleigh getting the ball out to their wide players.

“That is as good a performance as a Basingstoke side has produced in recent years. We let them have the ball in certain areas but Louis Wells has not had much to do.

“Our second was a fantastic team goal.”