Tyrone Barnett scored his first Eastleigh goal to earn the Spitfires a 1-1 draw against Dagenham & Redbridge at the Silverlake Stadium.

Barnett struck three minutes into the second half to cancel out Joan Luque’s opener after 16 minutes.

Eastleigh boss Ben Strevens said: “I think Ty is going to do brilliant for us. His goal was a top off for how everybody came out in the second half.

“We were on the front foot, picking up second balls, winning headers, getting good balls in the box.

“His goal came from a good ball in the box.”

Strevens was unhappy with his side’s lacklustre first half showing, but far more encouraged by their performance in the second period.

“It was two contrasting halves really,” he admitted.

“First half I wasn’t happy with anything to be honest. It felt like a pre-season game, there was no tempo or purpose in our play. It was very slow and lethargic.

“I thought the atmosphere was terrible and the heat didn’t help and everybody was a bit tired. Us on the pitch as a management team and players didn’t give them enough to cheer about to get them off the edge of their seat.

“Second half we come out and played with a lot more purpose and a lot more tempo and it got everybody going in the ground and it felt really good again.

“The first half was pretty far away from how I want to be here and the second half was pretty close to how I want it to be.”