Eastleigh’s rollercoaster 3-3 draw with strugglers AFC Telford United at the Silverlake Stadium truly reflected how stop and start their season has been of late.

It was the eighth-placed Spitfires’ second game in 28 days in the Vanarama Conference and, with the frustration that clearly brings, it came as a relief to manager Richard Hill to get some competitive game time under his side’s belt.

Especially with three players making their debuts – Harry Pell, Deon Burton and Dan Walker – it’s now a good string of games that will allow the Stoneham Lane outfit to gain some momentum as they eye a play-off berth and bed in their new men.

“We’ve had one game since January 10,” said Hill. “It’s not ideal. It’s been stop-start stop-start. You want to get a bit of momentum up.

“You’ve always seen we’re better when we can string a few games together.

“As good as the lads are in training and as entertaining as we try and make it, players get bored with it.”

Against the Bucks, Eastleigh were playing some of their best football of the season in the opening half hour.

But it wasn’t a performance that continued throughout.

“After the first 20 minutes you’d say it was two points lost... we were very decent in that time,” said Hill. “Where we were second half, it’s actually a point gained.

“We’ve finished the game strongly but we had two spells either side of half time that killed us.”

Will Evans’s cross gave Eastleigh the lead within ten minutes as it ricocheted off Telford stopper Freddy Hall via defender Ben McLaughlin and into the net.

Towering midfielder Pell, the new arrival from AFC Wimbledon, looked capable. The 23-year-old demonstrated his range of passing, energy and his willingness to defend.

But, just as the Spitfires looked to be in the driving seat, Telford – who are starting to prove their lowly position (now 23rd) is a false one after two successive away wins at Aldershot and Wrexham – delivered a sucker punch.

It came minutes after Jamie Turley, the centre back who only recently returned from a lengthy injury lay-off, left the pitch seemingly clutching the back of his left leg.

The visitor’s top-scorer Tony Gray – who netted a hat-trick in the reverse fixture (which Eastleigh won 4-3) – turned Evans, now in at centre half, in the box and opened up space to thrash home past keeper Ross Flitney. The half closed out with United in the ascendancy and that continued after the break, with Adam Farrell thumping one in on 56 minutes to take a 2-1 lead and then Sam Smith – atoning for an earlier miss – gaving Telford a two goal cushion.

The Spitfires didn’t hit the panic button, however. Jai Reason’s heavily deflected shot wrong-footed Hall and James Constable, with eight minutes left, clipped in Ben Strevens’ head back across the face of goal for his 13th this season.

Walker, the new wide man from Braintree, came on and impressed, showing his devastating pace at times. Jamaican 1998 World Cup star, Burton, was brought on too, looking eager to get in the thick of the action.

Eastleigh: Ross Flitney, Michael Green, James Constable, Jai Reason, Jack Midson (Deon Burton 67), Ben Strevens (c), Will Evans, Brian Howard (Dan Walker 57), Jamie Turley (Dan Spence 35), Joe Partington, Harry Pell. Subs not used: Craig Stanley, Craig McAllister.