Eastleigh 1 Aldershot Town 1.

DRAWING 1-1 against ten-man Aldershot Town may not look particularly outstanding on paper - but tonight's scoreline at the Silverlake Stadium tells only half the story.

Eastleigh – back in the trusty hands of Richard Hill – produced a performance overflowing with heart and hard work to end an horrific run of four straight Silverlake defeats and offer real hope that their days of sliding miserably down the National League table are finally over.

The Spitfires’ purposeful start couldn’t have been further removed from last week’s sorry debacle against Macclesfield which marked the end of Martin Allen’s disastrous 84-day reign.

Eastleigh it was who mustered the first shot – Hill’s trusty midfield general Ben Strevens firing narrowly over on the angle with just three minutes gone.

With Reda Johnson back from a hip injury, the Spitfires looked far hungrier when out of possession, hunting in packs to close the opposition down.

Given their current form, Aldershot – brimming with pace and menace - were not going to be kept quiet for long, however, and it needed some heroic defiance from Johnson and fellow defensive titan Ayo Obileye to keep them out.

Dangerman Bernard Mensah struck the outside of the post and drew a crucial save from Ryan Clarke either side of Idris Kanu being denied by Johnson’s headed goalline clearance.

But just when it looked as if the Eastleigh dam might break, so the Shots went down to ten men when Jim Kellermann caught Ross Stearn with a late, high challenge right in front of his own dugout, prompting referee Adam Bromley to brandish red.

Save for a Craig McAllister header comfortably gathered by ’keeper Jake Cole, Eastleigh posed little attacking threat and it was the ten-man Shots who made their cutting edge tell on 42 minutes.

Mensah’s slide-rule pass sliced the Spitfires open for 17-year-old former West Ham academy starlet Kanu to slam home.

What a difference Hill’s half-time team talk made as Eastleigh re-emerged like men possessed, laying siege to the Aldershot goal for three solid minutes during which McAllister fired over, Scott Wilson and Tyler Garratt brought the best out of Cole and Obileye headed inches wide.

As if all that wasn’t enough to hearten the long-suffering fans in the Eastleigh ‘Shed’, the appearance of Mr ‘Pie Gate’ himself, Wayne Shaw, brought a positively carnival atmosphere to the Silverlake, where 679 travelling Shots fans were already in full cry.

You had a feeling something special was brewing and on 80 minutes came the moment the Stoneham Lane faithful had been craving as Hill’s men deservedly hauled themselves back on terms.

One returning hero teed up another as Michael Green delivered a long throw from the left and the ball was flicked into the path of McAllister who gleefully fired in Eastleigh’s first home goal since January 10.

Jake Gallagher and sub Shamir Fenelon did their best to ruin Eastleigh’s night as the Shots fired again, but nothing was going to get past Clarke on an evening when belief came flooding back to the Silverlake.

Hill said: “It seems pretty strange we’re celebrating a point after playing against ten men for an hour, but we’re at such a point that we’ll take anything.

“That’s the best Aldershot team in a lot of years, in my opinion. But for endeavour, enthusiasm, commitment and energy I think we deserved to get back in it.”

Eastleigh: Ryan Clarke, Gavin Hoyte, Michael Green, Sam Togwell, Reda Johnson, Ayo Obileye, Ross Stearn (James Constable,65), Ben Strevens, Scott Wilson, Craig McAllister, Tyler Garratt (Sam Matthews, 71). Subs: (not used) Ben Close, Sam Muggleton, Hakeem Odoffin.

Referee: Adam Bromley.

Attendance: 2,522