EASTLEIGH secured a Blue Square South play-off spot after beating Truro City in front of their biggest crowd for nearly four years.

Captain Glen Southam’s 20-yard screamer put the Spitfires in front before second half-goals from Damian Scannell and Craig McAllister ensured a 3-1 win - Eastleigh's seventh in eight games.

A bumper crowd of 1,320, Eastleigh’s biggest attendance since they last reached the Blue Square South play-offs in 2009, took advantage of free entry. Amongst them was former Spitfires boss Paul Doswell, who was hoping Truro would do his Sutton United side a favour by producing a shock result at the Silverlake Stadium.

His hopes were raised when McAllister, fresh from back-to-back hat-tricks, saw his fourth-minute penalty saved after Dale Binns had been upended. But Southam thumped in a stunning left-footed opener, only for Truro’s 41-year-old former Fulham striker Barry Hayles to tap in a 39th-minute equaliser after intercepting a back pass from midfielder Mark Hughes.

The drama continued at the beginning of the second half, when Scannell curled a 20-yarder against the inside of a post and Hughes’ follow-up header was saved when Michael Green’s free-kick was parried. McAllister put a header wide and then Scannell’s outstretched boot could not quite connect as another Binns’ cross flashed across the face of goal.

But midway through the second half, Eastleigh’s dominance was rewarded when Scannell’s quick feet created the chance to score through a crowded penalty area.

Scannell whizzed another cross across the face of goal and Adam Watkins had a shot blocked before Eastleigh’s top-five berth was secured by McAllister goal’s seventh goal in three games - a far-post header from Andy Forbes’ cross.

Manager Richard Hill said: “The minimum target when I arrived was a play-off place and now we’re in there with the likes of Welling, Chelmsford, Dover and Salisbury, who have been in the top five all season.

“We’ve crammed a season into 20 games and we had enough chances to win another three. We just needed a break and I wondered if it was going to be our night when a shot came back off the foot of a post and crosses flashed across goal.”

Eastleigh will have a mouthwatering two-legged semi-final against Salisbury City to look forward to if the table remains as it is after the final round of games. But they could finish third, ensuring home advantage in the second-leg, if they win at champions Welling on Saturday and Dover and Chelmsford do not win at Bromley and Farnborough respectively.

“We don’t mind who we get, we’re just glad to be in the play-offs,” added Hill.

The first leg will be played on Tuesday (April 30) and the second leg a week on Saturday (May 4).

Eastleigh: Flitney, Forbes, Green, Hughes, Beckwith, Lacey, Watkins, Southam, McAllister, Scannell (Gray 90), Binns. Subs not used: Peacock, Zebroski, Dovey, Fountain.