A third 2-1 win in eight days has lifted Altrincham to ninth in the National League, albeit they have now played an extra game compared with 22 of their 24 rivals.

Altrincham took a thirteenth-minute lead when Barlow's advance up the middle saw the ball come to Crawford, to his right, and he drove the ball home from 20 yards or so. It was the Alty captain's third goal of the season.

But a mix-up in their own box, after several similar giveaways already this season, cost the hosts an equaliser for Eastleigh. Evans and Cooper needlessly played the ball back and fore to each other before the defender slipped and former Alty midfielder Josh Lundstram took advantage to score from close range (33 mins).

Altrincham regained their lead in the 55th minute when Humbles lashed home a shot from the left from 20 yards.

Eastleigh enjoyed plenty of the ball in the second half but good defensive work and wayward balls from the visitors left Altrincham' lead intact. In fact, it might well have become 3-1 when Taylor lashed a 25-yarder off the underside the bar in added time.

SCORERS:

• 13 mins: Tom CRAWFORD (ALTRINCHAM 1 Eastleigh 0)
• 33 mins: Josh LUNDSTRAM (ALTRINCHAM 1 Eastleigh 1)
• 55 mins: Liam HUMBLES (ALTRINCHAM 2 Eastleigh 1)

REFEREE: Mr Richard Aspinall

ATTENDANCE: 1,626 (62 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

For the third match running Lucas Weaver was again missing from the squad as were the longer-term injured absentees; Charlie Olson (hamstring), Eddie Jones (hamstring), Owen German (ruptured achilles) and Kristian Dennis (unspecified injury).

The only starting change saw Kosylo replace Lopata-White.

For Eastleigh, former Alty midfielder Josh Lundstram started. Johnson moved to the bench for the Spitfires as Khumbeni came in to start

LINE-UP:

ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with white sleeves and trim, red shorts and white socks): 1. Owen Evans; 14. Matty Kosylo, 5.Jake Cooper, 2. Lewis Banks, 15. Sam Taylor, 22. Tom Crawford (c), 8. Liam Humbles, 7. Otis Khan, 10. Aidan Barlow, 23. Charlie Kirk, 11. Jimmy Knowles. Subs: 4. Jack Hinchy, 12. Kian Breckin, 13. Andy Firth (gk), 21. Reuben Lopata-White, 20. Kahrel Reddin 28. Kane Hemmings, 24. Sam Barnes

EASTLEIGH (All blue, with white sleeves on shirts) 1. Nick Townsend, 18. Tommy Dobson-Ventura, 6. Temi Eweka, 14. Nick Akoto, 24. Jordan Cousins (c), 4. Harry Sidwell, 7. Max Dickov, 21. Nellson Khumbeni, 8. Josh Lundstram, 11. Aaron Blair, 12 Ollie Hawkins. Subs: 5. Ibrahim Bakare, 9. Manny Duku, 15. Josh Jeffries (gk), 16. Aaron Pierre, 10. Will Randall-Hurren, 17. Dion Rankine, 27. Reece Johnson

BACKGROUND:

Altrincham went into the game on the back of two successive vistories whilst Eastligh were unbeaten in three outings.

For the second Friday in succession Altrincham were playing a home match on a Friday night, for the convenience of the DAZN streaming schedules.

REPORT:

On a fine evening at the J. Davidson Stadium, Eastleigh won the pre-match toss and, as a consequence, the sides changed ends with Altrincham, therefore, unusually finding themselves kicking off towards the Golf Road end.

After little more than 90 seconds, Eastliegh won the game's first corner but, as was to become a pattern, the Spitfires wasted a dead-ball situation, badly overhitting the flag-kick. Manager Matt Gray, whose loud vocal instructions to his players were to be a constant feature of the match, had been yelling the number "one" to his players, presumably a code number for the type of corner to be deployed. In subsequent corners, for example, the instruction was to be "three".

Altrincham's own loud voice from the technical area, substitute goalkeeper Andy Firth, was soon spoken to by the fourth official, presumably concerning the number of personnel allowed in the technical area.

On the field itself, Altrincham's first goal threat was an unconverted low ball across the goalmouth played by Knowles from the right (7 mins).

Five minutes later, a well-hit shot from 20 yards by Tom Crawford forced Townsend into the first save of the evening, albeit a fairly routine one (12 mins).

Eastleigh's respite was short, however, as Barlow now burst forward up the middle from just inside his own half. He played the ball, right, to Crawford who, this time, beat the Eastleigh keeper with a fine shot into the far side of the net, making it 1-0 (13 mins). It was the Alty captain's third goal in his fifth appearance of the campaign, the same tally he accrued throughout 44 league appearances last season.

Play overall had been fairly even before a foul by Kirk on Lundstram gave the visitors a freekick, some thirty yards out, which was poorly taken and ran comfortably to goalkeeper Evans (20 mins)

After several minutes of uneventful endeavour, a foul on Khan by Blair yielded a freekick which came to nothing (28 mins)>

As play continued, without any real chances at either end, Altrincham gifted the visitors an equaliser.

Goalkeeper Evans played a short pass forward, within the penalty area, to centre-back Cooper. The defender played it back to Evans who immediately passed the ball back to the Altrincham number five. This time, as he sought to control the ball, Cooper slipped, allowing Lundstram to get the ball.

The former Alty man drifted left, to evade the advancing Evans, and he slotted the ball into the unguarded net (33 mins). This was certainly not the first time this season that similar mix-ups when Alty had attempted to "play out" of defence had gone disastrously wrong.

The goal naturally boosted Easteligh and stunned Altrincham with the visitors enjoying momentum over the next few minutes.

Alty did then rally as Kirk played a ball across the goalmouth from the left but the incoming Barlow could only steer the ball over the bar (39 mins).

Referee Aspinall then got inthe way of Humbles, allowing Eastligh to gain possession. To Alty's annoyance, Mr Aspinall allowed the game to continue which ended with Sidwell's shot forcing a decent save forom Evans, as he pushed the ball away to his right (40 mins).

Eastleigh's poor dead-ball taking continued as another freekick ran harmlessly to Evans (42 mins) but the visitors did then win a corner for which Matt Gray yelled out to his players to use move number "three" but this corner-bingo strategy again came to nothing (43 mins).

Whilst the interval score of 1-1 was a fair reflection of the balance of play, the manner in which Altrincham had surendered the equaliser was disappointing. As the players and management left the pitch, down the tunnel, for the interval there appeared to be some sort of kerfuffle.

After Altrincham's under-14s had walked round the pitch to justified applause for their victory in the pretigious Foyle Cup, the visitors kicked off the second half. At the break they had brought on Rankine for Akoto, the new man slotting in as right wing-back.

The first hint of a goal was to be a thirty-yarder from Humbles which flew narrowly wide (49 mins).

At the other end, Evans made a comfortable save from the visitors (53 mins). Alty went closer when the impressive Taylor and winger Kirk got a low ball into the box from the left but Barlow, at the near post, was unable to steer it home.

Soon afterwards the ball came out to Humbles in the inside-left position and, from the outer reaches of the box, he hammered a superb shot into the far corner of the net to restore Altrincham's lead (55 mins).

After a quiet few minutes TAylor forced a save from Townsend (63 mins) but, at the other end, the pacey Rankine got in a shot which deflected narrowly wide for a corner (68 mins). Following this, Evans had to back-pedal to tip the ball over the bar for another corner on the right (69 mins).

Peronnel changes ensued as Reddin and Hemmings replaced Knowles and Kirk for the Robins (70 mins) and Eastleight brought on Randall for Dickov (71 mins).

Play meandered on with a wild Eastleigh shot the nearest to goalmouth action before Matt Gray brought on Duku for Hawkins (76 mins).

Next, Rankine gained his side another corner (78 mins) before Alty won a freekick for a foul on Crawford (79 mins).

Blair's professional foul, tugging down Khan as the Alty man threaten to get clear in a counter-attack, earned him a yellow card (81 mins). Hemmings then got himself needlessly cautioned after a spat over a throw-in (85 mins).

Alty then brought on Lopata-White to bolster the defence as Barlow was withdrawn (85 mins).

Soon afterwards, Eastleigh introduced Bakare and Johnson for Dobson-Ventura and Khumbeni (87 mins).

However, it was to be Altrincham who went the closer to scoring on th closing stages as, firstly, Crawford forced a save at the foot of the post from a Taylor feed, a corner resulting (88 mins).

Four minutes of added time were announced during which Taylor struck a superb 25-yarder shot from the left onto the underside of the bar (90+2 mins).

Eastleigh applied some very late pressure but were unable to prevent Altrincham securing a third successive 2-2 win, all the victories haveing come in an eight-day period, on the back of the three straight defeats which had marked the aart of their season.

With this being the only Friday match in the National League, Alty rose to ninth, a position which must drop within 24 hours when the rest of the league programme is completed. Whilst the win was deserved, the repeated lapses in playing the ball out of defence are an ongoing worry for Altrincham fans.