EASTLEIGH manager Kelvin Davis sympathised with his side after a narrow 1-0 defeat to Sutton, which he felt came down to "two kicks".

Will Davies scored the winner from the penalty spot after Chris Maguire had a first-half spot-kick saved to ensure Sutton stepped up their Vanarama National League play-off bid.

Davies converted the spot-kick on the hour mark after Dillon De Silva had been fouled in the box and it proved enough for Steve Morison’s men to extend their unbeaten run to four games.

In a dramatic end to the first half, Besart Topalloj hit the crossbar for the hosts before Sutton goalkeeper Jack Sims saved an Eastleigh penalty from Maguire on the stroke of half-time.

Davies and Jack Taylor missed chances to make the game safe for Sutton after the striker’s penalty, but Morison’s men held firm to secure a win that kept them within sight of the play-off zone.

"It was always going to be tight and it came down to two kicks in the game," Davis conceded. "We spoke about that before the game, two teams with similar records.

"You can score penalties and you can miss penalties but goals change games. That situation changed the course of the game.

"At half-time, it's about understanding how much it's going to affect us and whether it's going to dictate if we win or lose.

"We did get over it to a certain degree in the second half but then we concede a penalty ourselves. The referee makes his decision.

"It ended up in the back of the net. That felt harder to take because we knew we hadn't scored one ourselves."

Jesurun Uchebuglam and Rekeil Pyke both made their Spitfires debut fresh off the back of signing on loan until the end of the season.

"I'm really pleased (with their performances)," Davis explained. "For them to come in, they've not had much game time. They gave us everything.

"Rekeil was probably cooked a little bit before he came off but we were trying to get one more effort out of him in the hopes something would land in the box for him.

"All in all, it was two good debuts. You could see they need to try and get up to speed. It was a big output for them in terms of energy."