Proud Todd: We played like a Championship side

A good, old-fashioned, muck and nettles cup tie looked to be heading the Spitfires’ way as they led Championship strugglers Bolton through Dorian Dervite’s 51st-minute own goal.

But Eastleigh – the lone non-League club to be flying the flag in the third round – were pegged back to 1-1 by a scrappy Darren Pratley equaliser from a corner with 87 minutes on the clock.

It books them a replay at the Macron Stadium on Tuesday week and Todd, for one, can’t wait.

“Can we win it? Why not?” he said.

“Our boys put in performances out there today of Championship standard. It’s been an unbelievable day.”

Hard-up Bolton were missing two of their better players, Mark Davies and Zach Clough, who they may be forced to sell to help them out of their dire financial crisis.

Young striker Clough was yesterday the subject of a shock £3 million bid from Bristol City, while Sheffield Wednesday were reportedly closing in on a £750,000 deal for 27-year-old midfielder Mark Davies.

Eastleigh boss Todd had a full squad at his disposal barring cup-tied speed machine Matty Fanimo.

He made two changes to the starting line-up from the 1-1 draw with Aldershot on December 28, bringing in Ben Strevens and Yemi Odubade for Jack Midson and Lee Cook.

New signing Kaid Mohamed from Bath City was named on the bench.

After two preliminary pitch inspections Berkshire referee Iain Williamson finally gave the sodden Silverlake surface the go-ahead 90 minutes before kick-off.

His chief concern was a boggy corner in front of the Mackoy Community Stand which had to be heavily sanded by the hard-working ground staff and volunteers, some of whom had been toiling away since 6.45am to ensure the biggest game in Spitfires’ history got the go-ahead.

Eager Eastleigh went at their confidence-shot Championship visitors from the off with Odubade delivering a dangerous ball in from the right which Andy Drury met first time, forcing keeper Ben Amos to save. Bolton gratefully scrambled the ball clear as Josh Payne followed up.

As the heavens opened once more, another sizzling run by the fleet-footed Odubade earned his side a corner. That was swiftly followed by another when, this time on the left, Jai Reason easily shrugged off the attentions of Rob Holding and skidded a dangerous ball across the six-yard box which eluded both Amos and Odubade.

Birthday boy Reason, 26 today, then neatly slipped Odubade through, but the pacy wideman couldn’t keep his shot down.

Apart from a Wellington Silva effort from the left which drifted wide of the far post, the Spitfires’ defence was scarcely bothered until the 19th minute when keeper Ross Flitney slid out bravely to save at the feet of Gary Madine as the Bolton man chased onto Holding’s delivery.

Odubade was flagged for handball as he latched onto a long Eastleigh ball forward on 28 minutes but, worryingly for Bolton, the tricky, little customer had found himself completely unmarked inside the area.

With the rain still lashing down, the surface was inevitably getting slippier and Holding did himself no favours when he slid in on ex-Saint Dan Harding right in front of the Eastleigh dugout and almost took out manager Chris Todd in the process. The Wanderers right-back was the first name to go into referee Williamson’s notebook.

On 31 minutes the National League hosts suffered a bitter blow when the lively Odubade went down injured just inside the Bolton area and, after lengthy treatment from physio Andy Cook, had to bow out of the game with a hamstring problem.

While Eastleigh were readying Mohamed to come on, Bolton very nearly punished the ten men when skipper Darren Pratley slithered an angled shot just wide of Flitney’s left-post.

That seemed to lift the visitors and , after Reason’s bending shot – set up by Mohamed - had tested Amos at the clubhouse end of the ground, it needed a smart point-blank save by Flitney to deny Brazilian-born Arsenal loanee Silva from close range.

Then, before Eastleigh could settle, Todd’s old Exeter teammate Dean Moxey skimmed a shot across from the left corner of the area which Pratley so nearly turned in from a yard out before it was deflected behind at the back stick.

Half time: Eastleigh 0 Bolton Wanderers 0

Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time the players emerged for the second half and it was Bolton who fashioned the first half-chance when Neil Danns fired well over with two minutes gone.

But the Spitfires soon settled and the Silverlake was well and truly bouncing on 51 minutes when the non-League underdogs took the lead.

Reason delivered from the right and, with no real pressure on him, Bolton’s French defender Dervite made a horrible hash of trying to clear the ball, instead stretching and looping it up past his own keeper from inside the boggy goalmouth.

It was a cruel blow for a Bolton side side already on their uppers, but that was of no consequence to elated Eastleigh.

With the crowd in full song, Reason back-heeled the ball into the path of overlapping full-back Joe Partington who couldn’t quite get it out from under his feet on the muddy surface, enabling Amos to smother.

Bolton, though, quickly woke up to the gravity of the situation and it needed a sensational save by Flitney to deny Pratley right under the noses of the boisterous Eastleigh fans packed into the terrace behind the clubhouse end goal.

Flitney soon had more work to do cutting out Pratley’s low ball in from the left as Wanderers upped the pressure, but there was no silencing the rowdy Spitfires faithful who were soon chanting “Sacked in the morning” to beleaguered Bolton boss Neil Lennon.

Wanderers’ Neil Danns was next in the referee’s notebook and, from the subsequent free kick, Eastleigh almost doubled their lead.

Having initially lost possession, the ball fortuitously fell for the unmarked Josh Payne. Unfortunately for the Spitfires midfielder, he had to swivel to reach it and didn’t quite get the connection he wanted allowing Amos and his defenders to scramble the ball away.

Flitney managed to tame Moxey’s free kick at the second attempt following a foul by Strevens and, in the interim, Bolton sent on former Newcastle goal ace Shola Ameobi to try and rescue the tie.

But it was Eastleigh who looked the likelier to find the back of net and so nearly did so on 75 minutes when Mohamed squared the ball to Drury whose goalbound shot held up in the mud, allowing a relieved David Wheater to hack it off the line.

More drama followed at the Mackoy end when, in trying to get the ball out from under his feet, Bolton’s Holding was deemed guilty of a back pass as Amos collected, but the Spitfires made a hash of the indirect free kick.

Bolton, though, rode their luck and piled on the late pressure.

Eastleigh had one close shave, just about dealing with Silva’s free kick into the box but, after making a double substitution with Kaiyne Woolery and Liam Trotter coming on, Bolton managed to claw back a scrappy equaliser with three minutes of normal time remaining.

Ex-Salisbury midfielder Liam Feeney delivered a corner from the right and it was Pratley who got the crucial touch in a packed six-yard box to stab the ball over the line.

There was a shoving match between Flitney and substitute Woolery as a free-for-all broke out inside the goalmouth as players tried to retrieve the ball from of the back of the net.

Four minutes of added time were signalled and the very last kick of the match, a Silva corner, was safely headed behind by Eastleigh as honours ended even on an unforgettable afternoon in Stoneham Lane.

Eastleigh: Ross Flitney, Joe Partington, Dan Harding, Josh Payne, Will Evans, Paul Reid, Ben Strevens, Andy Drury, James Constable, Jai Reason, Yemi Odubade (Kaid Mohamed, 35 ) Subs (not used): Lewis Noice, Jamie Turley, Ross Lafayette, Jack Midson, Lee Cook.

Bolton Wanderers: Ben Amos, Dean Moxey, Dorian Dervite, Josh Vela (Shola Ameobi, 70), Liam Feeney, Gary Madine (Liam Trotter, 85), Neil Danns (Kaiyne Woolery, 85), Darren Pratley, Wellington Silva, David Wheater, Rob Holding. Subs (not used): Paul Rachubka, Jay Spearing, Jose Manuel Casado, Stephen Dobbie.

Attendance: 5,025

Referee: Iain Williamson (Berkshire)