RONNIE Moore was staggered by Eastleigh’s naivety as they were floored by a sucker punch in yesterday's heavyweight bout against Dagenham & Redbridge at the Silverlake.

No sooner had he picked up the National League manager-of-the-month award for September than Moore watched on incredulously as his unbeaten record was broken in frustrating circumstances.

Corey Whitely’s killer goal went in while the Spitfires were needlessly soldiering on with ten men after the centre-back curse had struck again when Adam Dugdale limped off with strained medial ligaments.

For the life of him, the wily Liverpudlian couldn’t understand why his side didn’t just boot the ball out of play to allow a substitute to come on.

Left-back Michael Green had done his best to hasten James Granger’s introduction, but got booked for time-wasting as he tried to delay a throw-in.

The undermanned Spitfires then paid an almighty price as the Daggers fatally wounded them against the run of play – Whitely venturing into the wide open space on Eastleigh’s right and knocking the ball past advancing goalkeeper Ryan Clarke with just 17 minutes to go.

“All we had to do was boot it out, but we’ve kept the ball in play 10 v 11 and it was inevitable, wasn’t it?” sighed Moore.

“Taylor (midfielder Jason Taylor) has dropped in there (central defence) and one little ball has undone us.

“Probably the 'keeper should have stayed at home, he’s made his (Whitely’s) mind up for him.

“It was cruel, but football is cruel if you’re not professional and do the right things.

“If we do, we take at least a point out of this game, but we’ve ended up with nothing.”

When Moore arrived at Eastleigh in mid-August he inherited five centre-backs and sent Connor Essam and Ayo Obileye out on loan.

But, in a cruel twist of fate, skipper Ryan Cresswell picked up a calf injury and Reda Johnson got himself sent off against Maidstone last Tuesday, ruling both out for what was potentially the biggest home test of the season so far.

The odd thing was, though, that Dagenham really weren’t that scary, and, had the Spitfires played anything like as fluently as in the 3-0 dismantling of Maidstone, Moore is convinced they would have come out on top.

Describing his side as “scruffy” in possession, he said: “The difference was we kept ball on Tuesday but today people were slashing at it, panicking, and no one was really getting on it and controlling it for us.

“We haven’t played well, but we’ve played a million times better than they (Dagenham) have.

“If we’re going to lose the record, let’s lose it to a good side who’ve come and given us a good hiding or done it right.

“We’ve killed ourselves really."

While Dagenham could point to a sharp, first-half save by Clarke that kept out Luke Howell’s volley and the woodwork denying Whitely an almost carbon-copy second late on, Eastleigh saw a Ryan Bird header crash off the crossbar and were dominating the second half until Dugdale got injured in a block tackle.

The Spitfires spurned several presentable chances, leaving a frustrated Moore to deduce: “We’re soft-centred up top.

“When chances come we’re easy to play against because we don’t punish teams. We make saves easy for the 'keeper by not making the right decisions. If we’d been here ’til next Friday we wouldn’t have scored.”

The defeat, Eastleigh’s first in 11 league games, dumps them down to eighth, five points behind second-placed Dagenham and seven adrift of leaders Forest Green.

“We were two points behind Dagenham, which was nothing, but now we’re playing catch-up again,” said Moore.

“People keep saying what a good side they (Dagenham) are, but we more than matched them today. We’re just not ruthless enough.”

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.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Elliott Justham, Sam Ling (Feriji Okanabirhie, 66), Joe Widdowson, Matt Robinson, Craig Robson, Josh Staunton, Frankie Raymond, Luke Howell, Oliver Hawkins, Jordan Maguire-Drew, Corey Whitely. Subs (not used): Mark Cousins, Tyrique Hyde, Leo Donnellan, Jimmy Shepherd.

Referee: Samuel Allison

Attendance: 2,209