EASTLEIGH boss Kelvin Davis described Monday's 3-2 defeat to Maidenhead United as "disappointing" and admitted nerves may have been a factor in the loss.

The Spitfires went 2-0 up at the Silverlake Stadium after 16 minutes through goals by Solomon Nwabuokei and Chris Maguire.

The visitors hit back in the second half and came from two goals behind to win it through Shawn McCoulsky's 83rd-minute winner.

Speaking to Eastleigh's club media after the loss, Davis explained what he felt contributed to the defeat.

He claimed: "We spoke at half time, I don’t think there’s a man in that dressing room who hasn’t been in that position. You know that (being 2-0 up) is a dangerous scoreline.

"You have to come out and stamp your authority on the second half early. You have to make sure the first thing you do in the second half is positive.

"You have got to resist the opposition because we know what (Maidenhead United) are capable of. We have seen enough of them. If you give them an opportunity, they will take it."

The former Saints goalkeeper insisted the players were understandably disappointed and were not able to deal with their concession of goals soon enough.

"We’re disappointed," he continued. "There’s no magic wand. We have had issues all season. We have conceded a lot of goals. There’s been no secret about that.

"You can understand from the player's position and the psychological point of view that when you concede one, nerves and anxiety kick in a little bit.

"We have spoken about that in previous moments of how we should handle that and to keep the game simple and not allow a mistake to become another mistake which then snowballs into conceding a goal.

"We didn’t receive the message early enough and didn’t deal with the issue. Unfortunately, one thing led to another and we conceded three poor goals."

The result leaves Eastleigh 16th in the National League - only four points above the relegation places with plenty of work still to be done to achieve survival.

Spitfires top scorer Paul McCallum was a surprise absentee from the Eastleigh squad while goalkeeper Joe McDonnell had to pull out of the game in the warm-up.

"Macca (Paul McCallum) came in with a stiff back following the Woking game the other day. He’s had a bit of treatment and he didn’t react so well," Davis explained.

"Joe (McDonnell) unfortunately felt his back in the warm-up. We had to make a call on him quite early in the warm-up. It was obvious that he wouldn’t be capable of performing."

Davis will hope that the pair will be available when Eastleigh travel to relegation-threatened York City on Saturday.