Richard Hill 'absolutely embarrassed' of Eastleigh's performance in Maidenhead United defeat

Eastleigh manager Richard Hill said he was ‘absolutely embarrassed’ of his side’s performance in their defeat to Maidenhead United on Saturday afternoon and admitted he could have changed all 11 players in the first half at York Road.

Goals from Remy Clerima and Ashley Nathaniel-George deservedly put Alan Devonshire’s Magpies in front at half-time before Scott Quigley halved the deficit 10 minutes into the second half.

Reece Smith (above) found the back of the net in the 82nd minute to restore a two-goal buffer for his side as a comeback for the Spitfires looked unlikely.

But Quigley did manage to score again within added time to get a few supporters chewing their nails before the referee brought an end to the clash, confirming Maidenhead United’s first National League win since mid-August and a second defeat in a row for Eastleigh.

At full-time, boss Hill said to Ricky Hart, head of media at Eastleigh: “I’m absolutely embarrassed by that performance. It’s okay playing when you’re 2-0 down but that wasn’t good enough.

“It’s not acceptable. You can’t come away from home and start a game like that. Some of those performances, in fact all of those performances, are not acceptable.

“I could have changed 11, I could have changed all 11 players [in the first half]. We had to get a bit of an ascendancy, we had to try and get a goal before half-time.

“I’ve looked at myself, I’ve looked at my performances over the last week, the last 10 days. There are things I need to improve but likewise, there is a lot the players need to improve on.

“We work very hard every day on things, and then we go into the game on Saturday, and it appears that the work is not carried out. We do presentations to the players, we do presentations on the opposition and I am not sure whether the players are watching it. That’s not acceptable.”

Asked if there were any positives to take, Hill added: “Malachi Dotse has not done himself any bad has he? I just thought, I’ve seen him in training, I like him in training and I thought if a half-chance pops up he might actually get us something alongside Quigley. But, it wasn't to be.”