PAUL DOSWELL was all smiles last night as Eastleigh returned from 'mission impossible' with a 4-1 Premier victory in the bag.
On paper, winning at Slough Town looked a mighty tall order. The Bekshire side had not been beaten all season at their adopted Stag Meadow ground.
Scarier still, they hadn't conceded a home goal in the league and were unbeaten on home soil since December last year.
None of which mattered to elated Eastleigh who, with skipper Rob Marshall back from a viral infection, took only 15 minutes to puncture Slough's steely defence. James Stokoe blocked an attempted clearance and slotted the ball coolly past the keeper.
On the brink of half-time, Andy Forbes broke away to make it 2-0 only for Slough to profit from a controversial penalty awarded against Sam Wyeth seconds later.
That proved only a minor setback for determined Eastleigh, who went on to win in style. Ex-Saint David Hughes struck from 20 yards to make it 3-1 and the last word went to Martin Thomas who supplied the far-post finish to Wyeth's cross in a polished five-man move.
After all the injury problems of the past few weeks, Doswell was relieved to have a near full house to choose from.
He commented: "We had a decent side out and all 11 played well."
The one blot on the night was losing Forbes after an hour with another recurrence of his calf strain.
Salisbury City crashed to their second home defeat of the season, losing 3-1 to new league leaders Yeading at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium.
Having wasted a couple of first-half headers from Craig Davis corners, the Whites were outplayed after the break.
Two free kicks in the space of five minutes proved the Whites' undoing - Nevin Saroya netting the 56th-minute opener courtesy of a deflection and Alex Stanley striking the second from 35 yards.
Craig Davis gave Salisbury hope, netting a right-foot shot amid the goalmouth melee that greeted Aaron Cook's square ball, but Yeading made sure of the points with an 86th-minute Errol Telemarque cross-shot.
Team manager Mark Kelly threw himself on with nine minutes to go and had a left-foot shot well saved after Sean Cook had headed on Davis's cross.
Denmead referee Ben Knight made few friends at Old Sarum, booking eight players - five of them Salisbury's.
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