Eastleigh accomplish 'Mission Impossible'

Like the famous Hollywood films starring Tom Cruise, they somehow manage to pull it off against ridiculous odds.

The underdogs, play-off chasing Eastleigh, travelled to the seemingly all-powerful Rovers in fine form, having just won three of their last four.

They were, however, going to the caldron that is the Memorial Stadium to face a lethal Gas side that had not lost in 20 games.

Manager Darrell Clarke had just won the Vanarama Conference’s Manager of the Month award for February after they’d just won five in a row.

To top it off, Rovers had been beaten once in 18 games at home and were perched at the top of the Conference.

The scene was set for Rovers to continue their with promotion plans with Eastleigh to be their next victim.

But Richard Hill’s side staged a pulsating upset in a combustible atmosphere at the Memorial in front of hoard of more than 7,000 increasingly frustrated Gasheads.

Michael Green’s fortuitous free-kick on six minutes snuck through the legs of keeper Steve Mildenhall before Jack Midson doubled the lead just past the hour mark with a close range effort.

Rovers top-scorer Matty Taylor netted his 12th league goal with a fantastic low strike from 25 yards to set-up a tense finale with 12 minutes remaining.

Eastleigh, though, were incredibly industrious with the midfield and defence remaining resilient to a late attacking onslaught by the home team to take the memorable win.

“It was a great win for us,” said manager Richard Hill. “It was always going to be tough.

“We spoke in depth during the week that if we happened to be in a position to win the game, we knew we’d come under a lot of pressure.

“I can’t speak highly enough of my players... because to be put under that pressure for basically an hour it’s not for the faint hearted.

“We managed to score a couple of goals at the right times and ended up putting them under pressure.”

Eastleigh picked up just where they left off from their emphatic 4-0 win over another high-flying team Macclesfield Town last weekend.

The Spitfires made an excellent start against a Rovers side missing star midfielder, and former Salisbury City man, Stuart Sinclair.

Midson and James Constable showed what trouble they were going to cause to the Gas defence all afternoon with some great link-up play.

Conference Player of the Month Jai Reason was fouled by Tom Parkes to set-up the free-kick for Green.

It looked a very average free-kick, in fact, it should have been routine for keeper Mildenhall to collect-in at his feet.

Instead, though, the Gas custodian was left completely embarrassed as the ball wriggled between his legs and into the net.

Mildenhall went onto make several fine saves, notably from headers from Constable and Reason.

The centre midfield trio of Craig Stanley, Ben Strevens and Harry Pell were excellent.

The ex-Rovers and AFC Wimbledon man, Pell, was particularly good as he hassled and harried all the time for the ball.

Boos and whistles echoed around the Memorial Stadium as the home crowd became aware that the Spitfires would not be easy to break down, especially with centre back duo Dean Beckwith and Joe Partington winning the majority of aerial balls.

Spitfires stopper Ross Flitney was alert on several occasions when Rovers did find a way through.

He blocked well as Taylor tried to hit from close range from a Daniel Leadbitter square ball.

Ellis Harrison, the Welsh under-21 international, then slammed into the side netting minutes on 34 minutes as the Gas increased the pressure.

The Spitfires started the second period well but had to deal with an extra man in the Bristol attack with Nathan Blissett coming on for Leadbitter at the half.

They dealt with it well and doubled the advantage as they attacked on the break on 63 minutes. Former Rovers man Stanley zipped the ball across the pitch before it was worked down to right-back Spence deep on his flank.

Spence’s cross was delivered into the six yard box where Midson was waiting to pounce.

The industrious forward controlled, almost looked up to check if he was offside, before slotting under Mildenhall.

Substitute Craig McAllister then seemingly got the third but Parkes cleared off the line.

Goal-line technology may have proved otherwise, but the assistant referee was keen to wave away appeals for the goal to stand.

Taylor then set-up a tense final 12 minutes as the forward slammed a shot into the bottom left of the goal from just outside the box.

“Bristol Rovers are the strongest and hardest team we’ve played this season,” Hill concluded.

“Both at our place and here but you know what to expect.

“We started the game very well.

“But my players did fantastic today, under a lot of adversity.

“It was a good advert for the Conference as well, had that been a League Two game today, it would have been a good advert for that too.”