Eastleigh went a long way to earning their stripes back with manager Paul Doswell by booking a crowd-pulling FA Trophy replay with AFC Wimbledon at the Silverlake Stadium tomorrow (7.45pm).

After accusing his team of "playing as if they were trying to get me the sack" last week, Doswell got the required reaction in Saturday's 1-1 third qualifying round draw played in front of a 1,346 crowd in wind-swept south London.

"It was pretty much a perfect result," said Doswell. "Ideally we would like to have won the game, but from a financial point of view, a replay at the Silverlake was the next best thing."

Had Eastleigh not had striker Jamie Brown, right, debatably sent off, Doswell is convinced his side would have gone on to win.

As it was, they took the lead with ten men thanks to a superb finish from Darren Wheeler on the brink of half-time and then defended manfully in what Doswell described as "a mini hurricane" before Dons' ex-Aldershot striker Roscoe D'Sane levelled in the 71st minute.

As the home celebrations died down, Dons were themselves reduced to ten men when their teenage substitute Robin Shroot was given his marching orders for high-fiving the Wimbledon fans.

It prompted angry stand-in manager Jon Turner - deputising for the flu-ridden Dave Anderson - to snap: "It looks like celebrating is a criminal offence now!"

Doswell couldn't have been happier with Eastleigh's efforts in atrocious conditions.

He said: "We defended for ages with ten men in wind and driving rain. Our keeper James Pullen can kick the ball miles, but it kept coming back to the penalty box - that's how bad it was."

Havant & Waterlooville's home tie against Team Bath was rained off and has been rescheduled for tomorrow (7.45pm).