EASTLEIGH boss Richard Hill declared their 2-1 FA Cup second round win over Reading as being "massive for the football club".

The Spitfires took the lead midway through the first half when Scott Quigley's terrific cross was was prodded home by Paul McCallum.

Femi Azeez equalised for Ruben Selles' League One side with four minutes remaining but McCallum struck again in stoppage time to spark wild celebrations at Silverlake Stadium.

Speaking after the game, Eastleigh's Hill said: "You could not have written it. It was great. The cameras are here. You could not have written the finale. 

"It is quite weird because I do not really get emotional. The guys that come here every week would say that I don’t get emotional.

"I don’t really celebrate goals but this game is massive to this football club. It’s massive to my chairman, it’s massive for 3,500 Eastleigh fans that have come today.

"As the manager, I have had to carry that this week and I’ve had to be aware that we couldn’t have a situation where we got beat 3 or 4-0 and we just roll over and everyone goes, well there it is."

Despite the Spitfires being excellent for long periods, Reading pinned Eastleigh back at times in the second half but the National League club showed great resilience to frustrate the visitors.

After Reading equalised in the closing stages, Hill insisted he believed Eastleigh would get another chance to cause an upset against the travelling competitors.

He continued: "There’s not much you can do other than trying to get your lads organised on the football.

"At one point, we had Chris Maguire playing on the left, Scott Quigley playing on the right. We just could not get out.

"Credit to Reading there, they gave us a little bit of a going over for 20 or 25 minutes and sometimes as a manager, you are in the lap of the gods.

"When it goes to 1-1, I just felt we had one chance. I don’t know if they could hear me but I was shouting at Quigley, 'We will get one more chance.'

"I purposely shoved Enzio (Boldewijn) on the right-hand side a little bit just on the off chance we might get an out ball and we did.

"When you have got somebody like Maguire who can put the ball in a dangerous area and McCallum’s on form, you have got a chance."

Despite it being McCallum who is likely to get a lot of plaudits for another impressive display, Hill wants Quigley to be given a similar level of respect for his performance.

The 31 year old worked tirelessly for the team and his superb display was capped off with a superb assist for McCallum's opening goal.

Hill claimed: "I think what you lose sight of a little bit is Macca’s scoring the goals, but Scott Quigley is a good foil for Paul McCallum.

"When you have got two big lads up front who have got a little bit of physicality who can disrupt the opposition, that does help.

"I think what you have seen is Quigley is contributing to McCallum in his play."

Over 5,000 fans were in attendance at Silverlake Stadium and Eastleigh's FA Cup journey will now continue against either Newport County or Barnet in the third round.