NO matter how disappointed manager Chris Todd felt after yesterday's 1-0 home defeat by jinx side Grimsby, he was in no mood to let it override all the good work that had gone before.

It will take more than one poor result to deflate a side who, prior to this slip-up, had reeled off five straight league and cup wins and lost just once previously in Todd’s 11 games in charge.

Moreover the Spitfires are a team with plenty to look forward to with BT cameras due at the Silverlake for this Saturday’s live televised league game against Southport (12.30pm kick-off) before Todd leads his troops to Stourbridge on December 5 looking to reach the FA Cup third round proper for the first time in club history.

Having lost four times to Grimsby last season in the league and play-off semi-finals, Eastleigh should have been primed for revenge in the sides’ first National League meeting of 2015/16. But it was not to be.

They came into the match buoyed by three sparkling away victories in league and cup but, for some unfathomable reason, the fizz went out of them on home soil.

Grimsby, roared on by a vocal band of almost 500 fans in the Mackoy Community Stand, may have a different attacking look to them these days with last season’s tormentors Ollie Palmer and Lenell John-Lewis having stepped up into the Football League.

But it was their latest hotshot, Irishman Padraig Amond, who inflicted the damage this time as his 29th-minute goal – his 13th of a potentially prolific season -sent Eastleigh tumbling to defeat.

“No matter who you play, it’s always disappointing if lose games of football,” Todd admitted afterwards.

But no way will this optimistic, young Welshman allow negativity to creep into the camp.

“We’ve been on a great run and it was always going to come to an end at some point, that’s football,” he said.

“We’re all disappointed, but you can’t get too low when you lose or too high when you win.

“The boys have done tremendously well and it wasn’t through lack of trying today, it just didn’t happen for us. That bit of quality wasn’t there. We needed to be a bit more clinical at times.

“There’s a bit of frustration in there, but we’ve got to gather the troops now and work extra hard to put things right in training.”

With Todd’s only other defeat coming at home to Braintree, his side appear to thrive more on the road.

But asked if his players felt any extra pressure in front of their home support, Todd said: “No, it’s just one of those things. We never performed today.

“Regardless of being home or away, if you don’t perform to the standards you’re capable of, you’re not going to win football matches.

“We huffed and puffed today, but we couldn’t quite put things right.”

There was a hint of offside to Amond’s first-half winner with even the Grimsby players casting a wary look towards the linesman as they embarked on their goal celebrations.

But, truth to tell, the Mariners could not be begrudged the three points which saw them replace Eastleigh in third spot while Todd’s men dropped to seventh.

Prior to the goal, Eastleigh’s new loan signing Wes Atkinson from Notts County had denied Amond’s strike partner Alex Jones with a superb saving tackle, and Ross Flitney was the busier of the two keepers, smothering the ball on his line on one occasion and tipping over an awkard, looping Conor Townsend delivery on another.

Yemi Odubade’s pace caused some concern for an otherwise water-tight Mariners defence, but the closest the Spitfires came to scoring was a Josh Payne free kick that was deflected onto the woodwork on its way over.

“Grimsby are a good side, but there wasn’t much in it,” added Todd. “We hit the crossbar in the first half and if that goes in it’s a different game altogether.”

Despite inching two points ahead of Eastleigh, Mariners boss Paul Hurst remains wary of the Spitfires’ threat.

“It closes the gap, but Eastleigh have got a game in hand, let’s not forget that. I expect them to be up there at the end of the season – and we want to be there too,” he said.

Eastleigh: Ross Flitney, Wes Atkinson, Michael Green, Ben Strevens (Ross Lafayette, 77), Will Evans, Joe Partington, Josh Payne, Andy Drury, James Constable, Jai Reason, Yemi Odubade (Jack Midson, 90). Subs: (not used) Michael Poke, Paul Reid, Lee Cook.

Grimsby Town: James McKeown, Richard Tait, Josh Gowling, Craig Disley, Andy Monkhouse, Craig Clay, Nathan Arnold (Danny East, 90), Padraig Amond, Alex Jones (Jon-Paul Pittman, 80), Aristote Nsiala, Conor Townsend. Subs (not used): Gregor Robertson, Scott Brown, Shaun Pearson.

Referee: Wayne Barratt.

Attendance: 2,057