Altrincham played for over an hour with a man advantage after the red-carding of Shade for head-butting Olson yet had to endure some pressure from the Spitfires in the closing stages.

After a quiet opening, Alty took a sixth-minute lead when Eastleigh keeper, McDonnell, with the ball at his feet, took a poor touch, allowing Newby (right) to steal in and sidefoot into an empty net Things got worse for the hosts when Shade reacted to a foul by Olson and he head-butted the young defender who went down (25 mins). Shade was given a red card and Olson saw yellow.

However, Eastleigh immediately equalised as Francillette volleyed home (27 mins).

Altrincham failed to convert their one-man superiority until the 71st minute when Tom Crawford scored with a shot which left the keeper flat-footed, making it 2-1 to the visitors.

Despite being a man down Eastleigh applied some late pressure but Alty defended well and had several chances in added time. The win saw them rise to sixth in the league.

SCORERS:

• 6 mins: Alex NEWBY (Eastleigh 0 Altrincham 1)
• 27 mins: Ludwig FRANCILETTE (Eastleigh 1 Altrincham 1)
• 71 mins: Tom CRAWFORD (Eastleigh 1 Altrincham 2)

Altrincham made three changes for this visit to Eastleigh.

Lucas Weaver started for the first time in the National League as Ollie Crankshaw dropped out of the squad after his 45 minute cameo in midweek. There was a welcome return in defence for Lewis Banks with Casper Pasiek dropping to the bench. Banks had apparently broken his toe against Barnet in the FA Trophy.

Also on the bench, where James Jones returned, Owen German was named for a third NL fixture this season but he had yet to get on the pitch.

A third change saw Joe Nuttall replace Isaac Marriott who left the field injured on Tuesday night.

Missing today were the suspended Matty Kosylo, as well as Justin Amaluzor, Eddy Jones and George Wilson.

As for Eastleigh, Maguire came in as McCallum was out through injury. The Spitfires named only six substitutes.

EASTLEIGH (All blue) : 1. Joe McDonnell, 31. Niall Maher, 6. Ludwig Francillette, 4. Lloyd Humphries, 21. Noa Boutin, 2 Richard Brindley, 18. Angel Waruih, 14. Lee Hodson, 8. Jake Taylor (c), 7. Chris Maguire, 10. Tyrese Shade. Subs: 5. Luis Fernandez, 26. Joe Ryan, 13. Tommy Scott, 23. Jai Semenyo, 30. Connor Underhill, 29. Malachi Dotse.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks): 1. Ethan ROSS, 2. Lewis BANKS, 4. Lewis BAINES (c), 31. Charlie OLSON, 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 10. Alex NEWBY, 17. Lucas WEAVER, 9. Regan LINNEY, 24. Joe NUTTALL. Subs: 5. Jake COOPER, 16. James JONES, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 29. Jake BICKERSTAFF, 30 Harvey RANDLE (gk), 32. Casper PASIEK

Kick off saw Altrincham in ninth and Eastleigh in tenth place.

The Spitfires were unbeaten in their previous nine National League outings. However, they had won just three of those fixtures, all 1-0, against Ebbsfleet United, Maidenhead United and Solihull Moors. In none of those nine games had they scored more than two goals.

Altrincham arrived with a record of two defeats in their last dozen league matches. Eastleigh were the only team to have beaten Alty at the J. Davidson Stadium, but away from home the Robins had been less impressive with both of those defeats in the past dozen fixtures being on the road. And, worryingly, they had conceded ten times in their last four away fixtures.

REPORT:

After Eastleigh had kicked off, the opening stages were fairly uneventful, with a corner won by Linney off Waruih the highlight.

But, then, out of nothing, Altrincham were gifted a goal. Experienced home keeper, McDonnell, with the ball at his feet in the outer reaches of his area, took a poor touch which allowed Newby to steal possession and side-foot the ball into the unguarded net (6 mins).

Weaver soon won an Alty corner (10 mins) and they looked comfortable with their lead before another error by McDonnell saw him clear a ball to Nuttall. The Oldham loanee opted not to feed Linney and a corner resulted rather than the goal the situation should have produced (16 mins).

Four minutes later Linney shot wide in a match which was to be a disappointing one for Alty's leading scorer (20 mins). With the home keeper having a shaky afternoon, Nuttall then surprisingly opted not to harry him the next time the ball was at his feet.

The game's most controversial incident started with Olson holding Shade's shirt a little way inside the Alty half. Shade reacted by had-butting the Blackburn Rovers loanee, who went down in a manner which the home support felt was exaggerated

The referee had no option but to produce a red card and dismiss Shade (24 mins) with Olson picking up a yellow card for the original offence (25 mins).

There was no immediate substitution to cover for the dismissal but there was an almost immediate equaliser for the ten men. Following the freekick for Olson's offence, the ball was headed on to Francillette. Inside the box he chested the ball then volleyed a shot past Ross to make it one apiece (27 mins).

Olson's every touch was now booed as he assumed the role of pantomime villain.

After Osborne had poorly taken a corner (32 mins) Alty remained on top against the ten men. Making his full league debut, Weaver was growing into the match on the Alty right flank and it was a foul on him that elicited a yellow card for the offender, Humphries (41 mins).

Despite their dominance of possession, Alty were not causing McDonnell serious problems as the interval was reached, following three additional minutes.

At the break the booked Olson was replaced by James Jones, an expedient move by the visitors as the young defender was likely to be targeted in the second half.

Altrincham soon had a great chance to double their lead when, after 48 minute, Linney got clear, one on one against the keeper, but McDonnell won the duel.

Four minutes later Nuttall was unable to convert a corner, taken by Linney but the visitors' dominance continued as they earned another corner (55 mins).

Weaver then ran some fifty yards up the pitch but his lay off failed to find Newby (59 mins). On the hour the booked Humphries was replaced by Ryan for Eastleigh.

Altrincham were not converting their superiority into significant goal threats and another corner, won by Nuttall, came to nothing before the Alty front man was replaced by fellow loanee Bickerstaff (64 mins).

Banks tried to be a bit more direct than his team mates and shot at goal from 25 yards but his effort flew over the bar (68 mins). This inspired some concentrated presure as Weaver saw a shot blocked before Crawford steered a low shot past a flat-footed McDonnell to give Altrincham a seond goal (71 mins).

When Golden got forward and fed Linney, his mishit nevertheless won a corner (77 mins), after which Reddin took over from Weaver on the Alty right (78 mins).

Eastleigh made a change at the same time as Semenyo replaced Boutin. The new Eastligh man was soon booked, for a foul on James Jones as he characteristically advanced out of defence (80 mins).

From what should have been a comfortable finale, Altrincham now found theselves under late pressure from the ten men. Alty brought on Cooper to replace Banks for the closing stages (87 mins).

Ross, who had been largely unemployed, now had to make a decent save from a deflected Semenyo effort (88 mins).

But Alty reacted by creating two chances with, first, Bickerstaff having a shot blocked before a Reddin shot drew a fine save from McDonnell (89 mins).

Five added minutes were computed in which Linney did have the ball in the net but he was offside (90+2 mins). Ross alsogot himslef booked for timewasting (90+2 mins).

Finally, Linney, for the second time, was put one on one against McDonnell. Once again, it was the goalkeeper who emerged victorious (90+4 mins).

The win lifted Altrincham three places into the play-offs in sixth position as they recorded a fourth away win to help offset the imbalance between the Robins' home and away results.