Eastleigh staged a stunning late fightback to come away from Southport with a precious three points in their pursuit of a Conference Premier play-off spot.

John Marsden’s 76th minute strike had looked set to give the home side all three points, until goals within the space of three minutes scored by Joe Partington and Jai Reason turned the match on its head.

Spitfires boss Richard Hill was understandably full of praise for his side’s spirit in the face of adversity, on a bitter, misty night on Merseyside, as he reflected on a valuable victory.

He said: “We deserved that tonight. It’s a tough place to come – especially in midweek when you’ve sat on a bus for six hours.

“We had two players booked early (Will Evans and Ben Strevens) for not a lot, but we’ve stuck in there. We could easily have sulked (when Southport took the lead) but we didn’t.”

After a scrappy opening, things livened up when Will Evans’ conviction that his ninth minute cross from the right had been handled by Charlie Joyce wasn’t shared by referee Karl Evans.

Joyce was involved again four minutes later, picking Joe Partington’s pocket to deliver from the right. Ross Flitney in the Eastleigh goal could only pat the ball down towards Richard Brodie whose first attempt at goal was blocked by Paul Reid, with the striker then spooning his follow-up effort wide of the target.

On the quarter-hour mark it was the Spitfires back on the offensive, Reason’s sublime slide-rule pass finding James Constable in space at the heart of the hosts’ box. The former Oxford United man’s touch failed him, however, and the ball rolled through for Sandgrounders Number 1 Danny Lloyd-Weston to collect.

Back at the other end, Partington executed a magnificent last-ditch tackle to thwart George Donnelly with the home attacker about to pull the trigger in the box.

The game was 34 minutes old when Harry Pell halted Paul Rutherford’s adventurous run down the right, sparking a counter that concluded with Constable shooting low to draw a sharp save from Lloyd-Weston down at his near post.

Chances were at a premium early in the second period until, with 14 minutes to play, and seconds after Hill had introduced Deon Burton and Dan Walker from the bench, the home team nosed in front. The combative Brodie glanced on a free-kick struck from deep, to find substitute Marsden on the prowl and stabbing a clinical close-range finish past Flitney.

Micah Evans had a chance to double Southport’s advantage, when he latched onto another Brodie flick, but Marsden’s fellow substitute finished weakly into Flitney’s grasp.

It was a miss that the hosts would rue. 83 minutes were on the clock when Reason pounced on Collins’ clearing header before being bundled over by Joyce. The Eastleigh player picked himself up to float the subsequent free-kick to the back-post, where Partington dived full-length to plant a header beyond Lloyd-Weston and with just enough power to take it over the line.

Bloodied and bandaged as a result of his effort, Partington looked set to end the night as his team’s hero until, three minutes later, Reason supplied the coup de grace.

Burton teed up Dan Spence – on in place of Paul Reid – to hang a deep cross into the Southport box. Micah Evans’ tame headed clearance rolled into the feet of Reason, who coolly opened up his body and curled a finish that deflected off Evans and up and over Lloyd-Weston into the net.

A contented Hill felt that his team fully merited their dramatic victory.

“The character of the lads, and their game management when they went behind was brilliant.

“With how tight the game was, you’d take a point, even more so when we went behind, but then we found something at the end.”