Eastleigh can hold their heads high again after silencing their critics with a gutsy Blue Square South victory at Basingstoke Town last night.

The Spitfires put the embarrassment of Saturday’s 8-2 drubbing by Thurrock behind them to edge the Hampshire derby 1-0 at a soggy Camrose Ground thanks to Anthony Riviere’s 74th-minute decider.

It lifts Ian Baird’s men to eighth place, just four points adrift of fifth-placed Thurrock, and has reaffirmed Eastleigh’s belief that the play-offs are still an achievable target.

“We’ve all had an extremely bad three days where we haven’t wanted to face anyone or take any calls, knowing that everyone in our own little foot ball world has been laughing at us,” said Spitfires boss Ian Baird.

“The only way to shut them up was to pull together in a time of adversity and get a result tonight with the sort of solid, honest Eastleigh per formance that we’ve been renowned for.

“We were all embarrassed by what happened on Saturday and there was no hiding from it. We’ve deservedly taken a lot of stick.

“But we responded in the right way and the goal celebra tion tonight was good to see. It was a big result for us.”