EASTLEIGH entertain Havant & Waterlooville tomorrow (3pm) on the back of a third defeat in five games.

Manager Ben Strevens bemoaned his side’s first-half performance after they crashed to a 3-0 loss at Ebbsfleet United on Saturday.

Michael Cheek seized on a poor back pass by Josh Hare to give Eastleigh a second-minute lead.

Danny Kedwell put the Spitfires 2-0 down after ten minutes and Corey Whitely completed the scoring before half-time.

Strevens told eastleighfc.com: “The start of the game just laid out the pattern for the rest of it.

“Josh has been one of our best players this season, his mistake was out of character, but going 2-0 down so soon gave us a mountain to climb.

“I spoke to them as a group at half-time and it’s the first time they ever heard me lose my temper, rant and rave at them.

“Credit to them in the second half though, they didn’t go under or feel sorry for themselves and they tried to turn it around but ultimately the first half cost us the game.”

An impressive performance from attacking midfielder Jack McKnight was the only positive for Eastleigh.

The 21-year-old, signed from Basingstoke Town, performed well against an Ebbsfleet side including ex-Spitfires Andy Drury and Jack Payne.

“The biggest pleasing thing for us today was putting Jack in,” continued Strevens.

“He’s trained really well, looked bright and I thought he did really well considering it was his first game against a good team.

“I thought he more than held his own.”