Harriers gave a good account of themselves but ultimately were not able to compete with high-flying Eastleigh at Ten Acres.

There was another surprise name in the squad; Frenchman Elton Ngwatala, formerly of AS Beauvais Oise and Chambry Thelle, was named on the bench having completed his move hours before kick-off.

The new man had to be content with a place on the bench but there was a first start for Omari Patrick who had been forced to miss the FA Trophy defeat at Stourbridge by virtue of being cup-tied.

As to be expected for a team that had won seven of the last nine league games Eastleigh were strong from the start, doing their best to pass the ball around on a difficult surface but Harriers stood up to them well and defended resolutely for the most part.

The home side had the best of the goalscoring chances in the first half; former Harrier James Constable fired over the bar on 12 minutes and midway through the half, following good work on the left by Michael Green Jack Midson saw his volley well saved by Dean Snedker in the Harriers goal.

Three minutes before the interval the home side broke the deadlock, Constable drilling the ball into the bottom corner with a shot from the edge of the area after chasing down a long ball played through the middle of the Harriers defence.

After the interval Harriers looked a better side and took the game to the hosts.  Skipper Jared Hodgkiss, playing in midfield in place of the suspended Dino Fazlic, set Matt Young away on the right, his pass inside found Patrick who took too long to get his shot away after a neat one-two with Matt Barnes-Homer and Eastleigh were able to block it at the expense of a corner.

On the hour Harriers drew level; Barnes-Homer did well to chase down a ball towards the corner flag, beating Green and pulling it back toward the near post where Ben Whitfield was on hand to steer it inside the far post.

Moments later Harriers opened up the home defence again, Barnes-Homer's pass sending Zaine Francis-Angol into the penalty area but he over-hit his first touch and the chance went away.  At the other end Joe Partington headed over at the far post from Jai Reason's left-wing corner.

Eastleigh regained the lead in the 72nd minute; a counter attack carved Harriers open leaving Andy Drury to fire past Snedker who appeared to be caught out as the ball bobbled off the pitch in front of him.

Harriers kept plugging away and almost equalised on 76 minutes, the lively Whitfield hitting his 20-yard shot off Ross Flitney's right-hand post.  The home side wrapped up the game five minutes from the end; Constable's cross from the left was not cleared properly and Lee Cook blasted it back past Snedker from the edge of the penalty area.

Defeat condemned Harriers to their fourth loss in-a-row, their worst run of defeats of the season and with the next three fixtures pitting them against the top two teams in the league that sequence could get worse yet.