RICHARD Hill was left rueing two key officiating decisions after his Eastleigh side surrendered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Dartford in the Vanarama Conference tonight.

The Darts snatched the most unlikely of points through Harry Crawford’s injury-time leveller, but the Spitfires boss refused to be too downcast, writes Paul McNamara.

Talking about the second-half penalty he felt the Spitfires should have been awarded for a Mat Mitchel-King handball, and the Darts late equaliser which he believed was offside, Hill said: “Goals change games. I’m not saying we’d have scored it, but we had an opportunity to go 3-0 ahead. The score’s anything then.

“Then, to concede a goal two minutes later is a double blow. I’m not blaming the referee. I don’t think he’s been helped by his assistants tonight.”

Eastleigh recovered from the shock of seeing sub keeper Lewis Noice stretchered from the field during the warm up to begin proceedings in authoritative fashion. The culmination of a smooth second-minute move saw Craig McAllister slide a pass across for Jai Reason, whose first-time 25-yard strike whistled a yard past the post.

Jack Midson had a rasping eighth-minute shot well held by Jason Brown, but the Welsh stopper was at fault 60 seconds later when James Constable stole in to nick possession from a dithering Elliot Bradbrook and rounded the ‘keeper in the box before being hauled to the ground.

The yellow-carded Brown was powerless to prevent Jamie Collins’s exquisitely struck penalty rattling low into the left corner to put the Spitfires 1-0 up.

Hill’s men were in no mood to take their foot off the pedal, pinning back their hosts, whose sole first-half effort came when Luke Daley rolled his way past Michael Green and hit a low strike that Ross Flitney gathered at the second attempt.

On 22 minutes, Eastleigh doubled their advantage. Dan Spence galloped forward from right-back, linking with Midson on his way, with the ball eventually arriving in the middle for Reason. The attacker’s effort was pushed out to his left by Brown, where Constable was swiftly on the scene to knock in his third competitive goal in Eastleigh blue.

The narrative continued after the break. Reason hit a free-kick that was deflected over by Lee Burns, Dean Beckwith had a drive blocked by Peter Sweeney and Reason was denied once more, firing through a crowd of bodies but seeing his low dig collected by Brown.

The Darts threw on Lee Noble in the 52nd minute, and it was the winger’s left-sided corner two minutes later that provided his team with a lifeline. Bradbrook, atoning for his earlier error, rose highest in a packed area to head the set-piece into the roof of the net.

The visitors felt especially aggrieved, the home goal coming a minute after the Spitfires were denied what looked a cast iron penalty when the desperately sprawling Mitchel-King appeared to have handled Reason’s close-range drive eight yards out.

For all their huffing and puffing, there seemed little chance of a home equaliser until, as the action entered four minutes of stoppage time, Paul Reid could only head clear as far as substitute Danny Harris, who returned the ball into the box. Crawford pounced and snapped a terrific finish across Flitney and into the far corner.

It was a cruel blow, but Hill said: “We did well tonight. We passed it well. I’m not down, not at all. “On another night, we’d have come away with a win and sailing in the right direction. If we’d have scored a penalty to go 3-0 we’d have probably gone on and scored a few more.”

“It rarely happens that you can replicate a first-half performance of that quality in the second-half. They were always going to come out and have a go after half-time.”