EASTLEIGH suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat at Dagenham & Redbridge on a frustrating boxing day in the National League for Richard Hill's side.

The hosts took the lead when Inih Effong curled in before half time but the Spitfires hit back after the break as Aidan Barlow's header levelled the score.

Keenan Appiah-Forson restored the lead for Dagenham & Redbridge from outside the penalty area.

Tom Eastman and Effong scored in the final stages to seal a convincing victory for the home side at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.

Scott Quigley was again missing from the Eastleigh line-up for the clash but they were not able to follow up the 2-1 win against Dorking Wanderers on Saturday.

The visitors started the match brightly and went close through both Ludwig Francillette and Chris Maguire.

Dagenham & Redbridge opened the scoring when Effiong curled in superbly for the home side.

Former West Ham United striker Freddie Sears almost made it 2-0 but his close-range effort struck the crossbar.

Hill's half-time team talk looked to have made an impact for the visitors and they equalised through Barlow.

Solomon Nwabuokei delivered a threatening cross onto the head of the midfielder who made no mistake.

National League top scorer Paul McCallum went close to adding his 20th goal of the campaign a couple of minutes later.

His effort from a tight angle came off goalkeeper Elliot Justham and onto the post and the Spitfires were then made to pay after that.

Appiah-Forson made it 3-1 on 67 minutes when his shot from outside the box went in off the post.

Eastleigh went chasing the game in the final stages and Effiong punished them with a fourth goal of the afternoon for the Daggers.

The striker broke through on goal and slotted the ball beyond Joe McDonnell to make it 4-1 to Ben Strevens' side.