Eastleigh boss Richard Hill admitted the FA Trophy was “a hindrance” to league aspirations prior to Saturday’s tie at Vanarama Conference rivals Woking.

The good news is it’s a distraction he no longer has to worry about following the Spitfires’ 2-0 first round exit at Kingfield.

But what will concern him is the need to quickly steer his troops back to winning ways after they suffered a third straight defeat inside seven depressing days – this time against a Cards side they will face twice more in the battle for prized league points over the festive period.

Although Saturday’s loss was nowhere near as heartbreaking as the FA Cup choker at Southport, it put the tin hat on a week Hill would probably rather forget.

The Spitfires boss steered clear of media interviews afterwards, preferring to be left alone with his thoughts and no doubt itching to get back on the training ground this week.

Yet you get the feeling that it won’t take long for him – or his team – to flush this latest setback out of the system.

The sight of big guns James Constable, Ben Strevens and Stuart Fleetwood joining Michael Green on the subs’ bench was perhaps an indication that the Spitfires’ more pressing concern is to get three precious points in the bag when league combat resumes at rock-bottom AFC Telford United this Saturday.

With four key players rested, Will Evans was made captain, partnering player-coach Chris Todd in central defence, Yemi Odubade got a rare start and Hill pulled off a surprise by a handing a debut to promising Academy starlet Hussein Heidare at right-back.

For all those changes, Eastleigh gave as good as they got against a classy Woking side who, like them, went into Saturday’s tie looking to bounce back from two straight defeats which had dropped them from second to fourth in the Conference.

When Odubade scampered away on the break in the 22nd-minute, outmuscling Mike Cestor in the process, he so nearly put Eastleigh ahead with a shot that clipped the crossbar on its way over.

Instead, it was the hosts who broke the deadlock seven minutes later when on-loan Ipswich striker Jack Marriott made amends for a glaring earlier miss by crossing low from the left. The experienced Kevin Betsy dummied it, leaving man-of-the-match Josh Payne to power in a precision opener.

While Woking’s lively movement and pace posed a threat all game, Eastleigh had their chances.

Evans might have done better with a free far-post header from Jai Reason’s 34th-minute free kick and, four minutes later, Jack Midson rattled Woking’s woodwork for a second time after meeting Reason’s corner with an acrobatic overhead kick.

Green, Strevens and Fleetwood all came off the bench during the second half as Eastleigh – Trophy quarter-finalists last season - sought to wrestle away Woking’s slender advantage.

It took a fine save from Cards keeper Ross Worner to deny Midson and when Craig McAllister did find the net after neat work by Reason on the byline, it was adjudged that the ball had gone out of play.

The Cards, though, carried a potent threat of their own and, after Betsy had fluffed a point-blank header and Dean Morgan blazed a sitter over, they applied the coup de grace in the 71st minute when Betsy set up the menacing Marriott to arrow a shot across ’keeper Ross Flitney into the far corner.

It was rough luck on Eastleigh with even Woking’s injured top scorer Scott Rendell admitting afterwards: “On another day it could have ended 4-4. We got a bit lucky with their two efforts which hit the woodwork but in the end our finishing was that bit better.”