AT the age of 63, Ronnie Moore doesn't rant and rave like he used to.

But his Eastleigh players were left in no doubt that Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Southport simply wasn’t good enough.

Having gone in front with a sweet 51st-minute strike from Mikael Mandron, the Spitfires should have built on that lead – or at least protected it – against a side sitting second-bottom of the Vanarama National League.

Instead, they were caught cold by Sandgrounders substitute James Gray who equalised with his very first touch to deny Moore a fourth successive victory since taking over the reins last month.

It was hard to say what angered the former Tranmere, Rotherham and Hartlepool boss most.

Failing to make the correct decisions in front of goal was right up there on his list of gripes.

So too was the fact that the player supposed to be marking Gray (pedigree former Coventry defender Reda Johnson being his prime suspect) failed to do his job.

But what really got under the boss's skin was that Eastleigh, a well-paid, full-time outfit brimming with ex-pros, didn’t have longer-lasting batteries than their part-time visitors.

Moore, who began his managerial career at Southport, said: “They train Tuesday and Thursdays, whereas we’re full-time. We’re in every day, we’re working and, by rights, we should be running the legs off teams like Southport.

“No disrespect to them, but we shouldn’t be allowing them to be in the game.

“But everything you think about and talk about we did wrong today.

“We were lucky we weren’t playing one of the top sides because we probably would have lost.

“We never got started today. We just thought we’ll turn up and we’re going to win the game.

“Really they’ve done nothing to us and we’ve come off level.

“To me it feels like a defeat.

“Alright, we’ve got a point, but if we’re going to get out of this league we’ve got to be beating Southport.”

For the second Saturday running, it was a grey, gloomy, wet afternoon at the Silverlake, but Moore said there was no excuse for matching the conditions with an equally drab performance.

“We’d drilled it into them all week to start well and get on the front foot,” said the boss.

“You can blame the rain, but there was no wind today. There’s no excuse for them.”

And nodding towards the Eastleigh dressing room, he added: “There’s one or two in there that need to shift themselves sharpish.

“We’ve got a massive week coming up at Forest Green (Tuesday) and at Macclesfield (Saturday) and we can’t let our standards go.”

Confronted by the massed ranks of fluorescent-shirted visitors, Eastleigh had nothing much to show for their first-half endeavours – their closest chance being an Andy Drury free-kick that curled past the post.

No doubt stirred by a half-time rocket from Moore, they livened themselves up after the break and went ahead with a Premier League-quality strike from former Sunderland striker Mandron, who arrowed the ball into the top corner.

James Constable so nearly doubled the lead with an audacious lob from distance, but Eastleigh's grip on the game gradually loosened and they were punished with 19 minutes left to play.

New Southport boss Steve Burr watched on in satisfaction as his first substitute James Caton crossed for his second, Gray, to slot away the equaliser with his very first touch.

"Someone's got to pick him up," said Moore. "We're trying to organise things and do things right, but I can't think for them. We should have stopped the cross in the first place, but we didn't."

Eastleigh tried desperately to repair the damage with lively sub Luke Coulson running riot down the left. But when Constable did get the ball in the net, he had strayed into an offside position, compounding his manager's frustration.

Eastleigh: Ross Flitney, Joe Partington, Michael Green, Andy Drury, Ryan Cresswell, Reda Johnson, Adam Dawson (Luke Coulson, 74), Jason Taylor, James Constable (Ryan Bird, 82), Mikael Mandron, Jake Howells. Subs: (not used) Ryan Huddart., Adam Dugdale, David Pipe.

Referee: Adam Bromley

Attendance: 1,878