Eastleigh 1-3 Chesterfield: Spireites move 19 points clear at top of National League table

Chesterfield continued their seemingly unstoppable march towards promotion back into the Football League with a 3-1 victory at 10-man Eastleigh.

The Spireites extended their lead at the top of the Vanarama National League to 19 points after claiming a sixth successive victory.

James Berry opened the scoring in the 38th minute after combining with Will Grigg before Eastleigh suffered a major setback when Paul McCallum – the division’s leading scorer – was sent off on the stroke of half-time.

Late goals from Liam Mandeville and Grigg then secured a 25th league win of the campaign for the runaway leaders.

Armando Dobra set up Mandeville to make it 2-0 in the 84th minute before Grigg struck two minutes later.

Eastleigh grabbed a consolation goal deep into added time through Chris Maguire’s penalty but the points were long since gone.