Basford United fell 1-4 to National League side Eastleigh FC in the fourth round of the FA Trophy as their fantastic run in the competition came to an end.

Richard Brindley put the visitors ahead early on, and despite plenty of Basford pressure the Spitfires went up by three following a quickfire Paul McCallum double. Josh Barnes pulled one back for the Ambers with a superb strike, but Alex Stepien-Iwumene sealed the game just before the final whistle.

Initially the Ambers didn’t let the visitors get any sort of control of the game, disrupting the Spitfires’ play and posing a real threat on the counter as they looked well up for the tie. It was this threat that gave the Ambers the first big chance of the game, as Joe Uvegas’ shot from the edge of the box took a deflection, beating Joe McDonnell in the Eastleigh net but the ball clipped the post to deny the dream start.

Eventually it was the National League side that struck first, as Chris Maguire’s free kick was flicked on by McCallum, finding Brindley at close range who nodded the ball home to give Eastleigh the lead in the 13th minute.

The visitors started to establish dominance on the ball, putting plenty of pressure on the Basford defense and almost capitalizing on it as McCallum nearly added a goal to his earlier assist with a shot inside the box rattling the post. Jordan Hallam nearly had a chance to get an equalizer shortly after as Basford broke against the run of the play, and following brilliant work from Joe Uvegas to shake off numerous challenges and pick out Hallam on the edge of the box, the Amber number 10 could only hit the side netting.

It was a busy afternoon for the woodwork as it was hit once again, this time by the Spitfires again via a curling effort from Lee Hodson as they continued to come inches from doubling their lead. The intensity of the game began to die down as the interval approached, with both teams having time on the ball but no clear opportunities to put it in the back of the net, and the half concluded with Eastleigh holding onto their slim lead.

Basford came out of the tunnel after the restart hungry for a leveler, which they came close to twice with two almost identical efforts. The first came from a cross by Barnes that whizzed into the box towards Kane Richard who was unmarked in the box, but the pace on the ball meant he struggled to get enough contact to send it goalwards. 10 minutes later, Kacy Butterfield whipped a similar ball towards the head of Joe Uvegas, who also could only send his effort agonizingly wide.

McCallum eventually made the Ambers pay for the missed chances as a scramble in the box following a dangerous cross allowed him to tap the ball in at close range to double Eastleigh’s lead in the 61st minute. Only minutes later and the Spitfires’ forward had a brace, as another dangerous cross found him at the back post, and his powerful header was too much for Saul Deeney to keep out in the 64th minute.

To cap off a few minutes of madness, another goal was scored in the 66th minute, this time from the Ambers however as Barnes hit a fine strike on the volley from 20 yards, with the ball smashing spectacularly off the left post and in to give them a lifeline.

Despite their determined efforts, the game was put to bed just before additional time, as an Eastleigh break saw the ball fall to Stepien-Iwumene, who finished calmly past Deeney to get the Spitfires’ fourth. It proved the last major action of the game and Basford’s giant-killing FA Trophy run came to a close.

ATT: 361

STARTING XI: Saul Deeney, Archie Aves, Josh Barnes, Matt Thornhill ©, Ethan Stewart, Taylor Anderson (Kevin Bastos, 84’), Kane Richards (McKeal Abdullah, 75’), Kacy Butterfield, Ash Chambers, Jordan Hallam (Harvey Ridgley, 89’), Joe Uvegas (Tyrell Waite, 65’)

SUBS (not used): Rev James, Harvey Woodward, Diamond Atai