ANDY Hessenthaler made no apologies for Eastleigh riding their luck in yesterday’s 1-0 win at Gateshead.

The Heed were denied by the woodwork twice in the space of three minutes before the Spitfires broke straight down the other end to snatch all three Vanarama National League points with a speculative shot by right-back Josh Hare.

Fortune hasn’t always smiled on Eastleigh this term and manager Hessenthaler admitted afterwards: “We’ve played a lot better this season and got beat.

“We did have that little bit of luck, but it’s luck we’ve deserved because we’ve had games where we’ve had no luck at all, so it does even itself out over the season.

“That’s five games unbeaten for us now, four clean sheets out of five and three wins on the spin.

“It’s a fantastic result coming here and winning. I couldn’t be happier. The boys are giving everything at the moment.

“We had a nightmare journey up to Tyneside and it would have been a long way back if we'd lost the game.”

It took Eastleigh over ten hours on Friday to complete the 320-mile trek to Gateshead and, by Hessenthaler’s own admission, the first half was a bit of a damp squib.

The hosts felt they should have had a penalty shortly after the break when Steve Rigg went down under a challenge from Spitfires’ man mountain Reda Johnson and Gateshead must have felt even more aggrieved when Robbie Tinkler hit the woodwork twice in quick succession – first curling a shot against the crossbar and then sending an angled drive against the post.

Then, in a classic smash ‘n’ grab raid, Ben Williamson – on as a sub after a spell out with hamstring trouble - created space for Hare to run into and the young full-back waited for the ball to settle before striking it left-footed from 22 yards. It went into the bottom corner off the post to wrap up Eastleigh’s third successive 1-0 win.

“Josh doesn’t score many off his left foot but he’s had a go and, fortunately for us, it’s gone in,” said Hessenthaler.

“I’m really pleased for him. He’s played every minute of the season so far and been a big asset to us – and he’s still a young lad.”

Eastleigh, up to 11th, visit bottom-of-the-table Braintree Town on Saturday (October 6).