The timing of playing Barnet, the Vanarama Conference leaders, couldn’t have come at a worse moment for Eastleigh.

Playing three promotion chasing former Football League clubs in the space of a week is tough enough, but having to cope with that in the middle of an injury crisis is another task all together.

To summarise the 1-0 defeat to the Bees at The Hive Stadium on Saturday as unlucky could be seen as a big understatement.

Losing normal strike pairing Jack Midson and James Constable as well as Ben Wright, new defensive signing Jamie Turley and back-up keeper Lewis Noice to injury meant Richard Hill’s outfit had their back against the wall even before kick-off in north London.

But the way the Spitfires performed was nothing short of admirable. Apart from former Saints youngster Sam Hoskins’s deflected goal just past half an hour, the first half was a display of resilient defending coupled with counter attacking play as Hill set up a 5-3-2 formation.

After the restart a changed 4-4-2 shape saw Eastleigh on the front foot and the loud travelling fans were momentarily sent into raptures with ten minutes to play as Craig McAllister knocked the ball into the net, only to be flagged for offside – a decision the visitors disputed.

Hill’s side battled until the last minute.

“We’re going through a spell at the moment where everything that could against us, does go against us,” the boss said. “I’m at the bare bones with players. I’ve got two babies (youngsters Tony Lee and Harrison Weeks) on the bench.

“Everything is going wrong at the moment and to boot, at the end of a tough week, a deflected goal is the difference between us and the top of the table side.

“We kept going today, we’ve not caved in. On another day we’d have got half a break and who knows?

“We tried to do something different. We were a bit impetuous, but we didn’t do badly first half and we went more offensive in the second half, that was always the plan.”

The defensive set-up meant they were able deal well with the Barnet attack, on most occasions, in the opening half hour.

But for Hoskins’s shot that clipped the outside of the post and a few attacks that gravitated around the dinky Yeovil loanee and powerhouse forward John Akinde, Eastleigh remained resolute.

Because they committed so many men to defensive duties, attacks came on the break and mainly through left back Michael Green, who had a shot palmed away by keeper Graham Stack and a couple of surging runs resulting in corners.

Despite the positive opening phases an element of misfortune saw the lively Hoskins hit his first goal for Bees on 36 minutes. As the frontman picked up the ball on the edge of the box, he turned and lashed at Ross Flitney’s goal. Unfortunately for the away side, the ball pinged off centre half Paul Reid’s leg, wrong-footing Flitney and landing in the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

Hill changed it around after the restart with Stuart Fleetwood replacing centre back Chris Todd. The former Charlton attacker went up top with McAllister in a 4-4-2 formation.

It gave Eastleigh a more attacking complexion they grew into the second half. Among the chances, Jamie Collins flashed a Reason corner narrowly wide of the post and constant good link up play between Reason, sub Yemi Odubade, Fleetwood and McAllister saw some good spells of possession.

Barnet had chances themselves as they looked to put the match to bed, hitting the bar twice in the final moments.

Att: 1610 (including 139 away fans).

Eastleigh: Ross Flitney, Dan Spence, Michael Green, Jamie Collins, Dean Beckwith (c), Chris Todd (Stuart Fleetwood 45), Craig Stanley, Jai Reason, Craig McAllister, Ben Strevens (Yemi Odubade 68) Paul Reid. Subs not used: Will Evans, Harrison Weeks, Tony Lee.