MANAGER Kelvin Davis admitted Eastleigh were "off the pace defensively" after Forest Green recovered from a goal down to beat his side 3-1 on Saturday. 

Eastleigh went ahead after 37 minutes when Jake Taylor headed on after a long throw had caused confusion in the Rovers area and Chris Maguire flicked home.

Harry Cardwell equalised two minutes after the interval after Charlie McCann had slipped him through on goal.

The unfortunate Jake Vokins put through his own net after 57 minutes, and McCann downed the Spitfires after being set up by Kyle McAllister.

The result saw Forest Green remain second in the National League while Eastleigh still find themselves inside the play-offs in seventh.

Davis told Eastleigh's media team: "We conceded poor goals and when you concede poor goals, you don't win football matches.

"We got ourselves in front and we were in the ascendancy. We went into halftime with a positive mindset. We thought we would come out and do the basics right in the second half.

"We didn't. We got caught early in the second half and the ball ended up in the back of the net with a deflected goal.

"It's no disgrace losing to Forest Green. It's the manner of goals conceded that we are disappointed with.

"We knew what the threats would be and we just felt that we didn't take the game to them in the second half. Goals change games and they changed our mentality.

"They put us on the back foot and we didn't really recover. Then they get the second, we tried to shake things up by going more aggressive.

"They are a good team with good players but they stuck to their mentality better than us today. We are positive about what we do. As a group, we win together and we lose together.

"We know that we are not going to go a whole season without disappointment but there is a standard to set at home - today was the first day we didn't reach that standard."

Scott Quigley returned to the Spitfires squad after a period out with injury, further boosting their depth in the forward line.

"We have been crying out for Quigs for a couple of weeks," Davis continued. "He's come back from his hamstring problem but we pulled him off because you are always weary with that kid of injury.

"We had to make sure he didn't do anything to re-injure it. It's great to have him back in. The plan was to play a front three or four which could cause Forest Green problems.

"I felt it did for a lot of the game but we were off it defensively. It's tough to win when you concede three goals."