EASTLEIGH 0 DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 1

EASTLEIGH’S centre-back crisis cost Ronnie Moore his first defeat as manager as they were cruelly beaten 1-0 at home by National League promotion rivals Dagenham & Redbridge this afternoon.

Already without the suspended Reda Johnson and calf victim skipper Ryan Cresswell, the Spitfires received a huge kick in the teeth when fellow defender Adam Dugdale limped off injured following a block tackle with 20 minutes to go.

And it was while Eastleigh were briefly down to ten men that Daggers’ Corey Whitely scored against the run of play.

It ended a magnificent run of ten games unbeaten for the Spitfires, dropping them out of the play-off zone into eighth.

After a cagey opening five minutes, Dagenham forced the first corner when Frankie Raymond – briefly a Spitfires loan player – found Whitely on the left who turned inside stand-in right-back David Pipe and let fly with a shot that rebounded out off the covering Jason Taylor.

That was as good as it got for either side early on as Eastleigh – also without injured duo Andy Drury and Jake Howells – worked overtime to keep a good shape against potentially dangerous visitors.

That danger began to become apparent on 14 minutes when Jordan Maguire-Drew hit the top of the bar with a teasing cross from the right and, with Eastleigh struggling clear, the towering figure of Oliver Hawkins knocked down for Luke Howell who brought the best out of Ryan Clarke with well-struck volley.

That brought a response from Eastleigh and the Spitfires went desperately close on 21minutes when their own frontline giant Ryan Bird hit the crossbar with a header set up by hardworking midfielder Taylor who was frequently helping out Pipe at the other end of the pitch.

Eleven minutes later the Spitfires got on the front foot again with Luke Coulson, stationed wide left, playing the ball inside to Jai Reason who sent a nicely weighted pass forward for Mikael Mandron, but quick-thinking keeper Elliot Justham cut out the danger.

The Spitfires kept going and it wasn’t long before man-of-the-moment Coulson posed his first real threat, skipping past his marker as he drove in from the left and forcing a decent save from Justham as he searched for the far, bottom corner.

In the 39th minute Reason picked out Mandron again and this time the former Sunderland striker’s shot whistled just past the far post.

The Daggers didn’t seriously threaten again until stoppage time when Clarke got down sharply to parry Maguire-Drew’s goalbound blast and, with two visiting players getting in each other’s way in the fight for the loose ball, Howell whacked it over from six yards.

Half-time: Eastleigh 0 Dagenham & Redbridge 0 The Spitfires were the first to threaten after the break when, following a tug on Coulson, Reason delivered the free-kick into a packed six-yard box – the ball eventually falling to skipper and stand-in centre-back Joe Partington, who toe-poked it over the bar.

Moore’s troops went closer still three minutes later – Coulson again involved as he played in overlapping left-back Michael Green, who battled to the by-line and picked out Mandron with a driven cross to the back stick, but the Frenchman couldn’t squeeze a shot past Justham.

If either side was going to break the deadlock, you sensed it would be Eastleigh. But when the excellent Taylor drove the ball across the six-yard box, there was no one on the end of it, and then Coulson had a shot deflected out for a corner following determined hold-up play by Bird.

Dagenham’s side netting was then rippling as Adam Dawson unleashed a curling effort from all of 20 yards, but there was bad news just around the corner for Eastleigh in, of all places, the central defensive department.

When Dugdale exited injured with 20 minutes to play, it temporarily left the Spitfires down to ten men.

Taylor moved into central defence and Michael Green was booked for time-wasting, trying to delay a throw-in the hope of getting sub James Granger on.

The officials were having none of it and it was while Eastleigh were a man short that they were cruelly pierced by a Dagger through the heart as the visitors snatched the lead against the run of play.

Matt Robinson played in the Corey Whitely down the left and, with Pipe left exposed, the pacy No25 burst inside and beat Clarke with a low shot across goal and into the far corner.

Dawson and Mandron fired wide and Reason lashed one over as Eastleigh rallied and, with just nine minutes left to try and preserve his unbeaten record, Moore threw 41-year-old hitman Jamie Cureton into the fray against the club he left at the end of last season.

But with 88 minutes gone the Daggers came desperately close to scoring a repeat goal when a slip by Taylor let Whitely in again on the left, but this time his effort bounced down off the underside of the bar.

Eastleigh: Ryan Clarke, David Pipe, Michael Green, Jason Taylor, Adam Dugdale (James Granger, 74), Joe Partington, Luke Coulson, Jai Reason, Mikael Mandron, Ryan Bird (James Constable, 90), Adam Dawson (Jamie Cureton, 81). Subs (not used): Ryan Huddart, Jack Smith.

Referee: Samuel Allison

Attendance: 2,209