FORMER Dell boy Kevin Gibbens proved a snip at £2,000 as he inspired Eastleigh to a 6-2 home hammering of Hastings United.

After Eastleigh had failed to agree a price for Gibbens with his old club Basingstoke Town, the fee was settled by tribunal late last week and Eastleigh boss Paul Doswell was highly satisfied with the outcome.

While Basingstoke valued the 23-year-old at £5,000, Eastleigh were prepared to pay only a tenth of that officially, although Doswell did suggest upping it to £1,500 in a private chat with Stoke boss Ernie Howe.

Doswell said: "Ernie wasn't interested in £1,500, so we stopped negotiating at that point. I'm more than happy with the outcome of the tribunal. Kevin was outstanding against Hastings and, as Ernie himself said: 'Where can you get a player of Kevin Gibbens' quality for £2,000?'

Gibbens even managed to get his name on the scoresheet on Saturday, but the hero in that department was former Bashley and Salisbury marksman Paul Sales, pictured right, who plundered a rare headed hat-trick.

Sales had already had three headers saved by the keeper when Lee Bright's mistake invited Chris Honey to give Hastings a shock lead with their first attack of the game.

But Sales (2), Gibbens and Robbie Matthews put Eastleigh 4-1 up at the break and, with Sales and Hughes adding to the tally, it looked like the perfect end to a perfect day.

But there was a late blight on proceedings when Eastleigh's giant goalkeeper Colin Matthews was dismissed for an off-the-ball incident and Mitchell Sherwood converted the resulting penalty.

"I'm going to do an Arsene Wenger here and say I didn't see it, but the linesman flagged and Col was sent off," said Doswell.