IT'S not just his surname that has the ring of Patrick Vieira about it.

Anthony Riviere, the man who fired Eastleigh to their first ever opening day victory in the Blue Square Conference South - 1-0 against Cambridge City - has plenty more in common with the former Arsenal star.

In his own words, he specialises in "breaking things up in midfield and keeping things simple."

And, as the 28-year-old from Beckenham, Kent, showed on Saturday, he also weighs in with the occasional cracker of a goal.

After the struggles of last season when Eastleigh won only one of their opening seven league fixtures, new boss David Hughes was anxious to get three quick points in the bank.

His prayers were answered after 19 minutes when Riviere - one of five summer signings from the London area - darted onto a pass from his former Fisher teammate Chris Piper. He cleverly skipped his way through the heart of the Cambridge defence before belting a shot past keeper Shane Herbert and into the bottom corner.

It was a spectacular way to a start a season - and the good news for the Spitfires is that he has more quality strikes in his repertoire.

"I do get a few goals during the course of a season and I've scored better than that one," smiled Riviere, who says his nifty footwork stems back to his days of playing out wide.

"Before last season when I moved to central midfield, I played wide right so I'm used to running at people," he revealed. "Today's was one of those goals where, if you caught it right, it was always going in. I aim to get at least ten goals this season.

"It was a tough game today, opening games always are. Cambridge played it long, but we got an early goal and, after a good pre-season defensively, we're confident we can hold teams and not concede too many.

"I've got high expectations for Eastleigh. I'm here to win the league. That's the be all and end all for me."

For full story see today's Daily Echo.