A poor first-half performance proved costly for Dover as they were blown away by Eastleigh at the Silverlake Stadium.

Ryan Hill opened the scoring for the home side 20 minutes into the game before Harry Pritchard doubled the lead a minute later.

Ben House made it three for Eastleigh with five minutes left of the first half with Josh Hare getting the fourth in stoppage time.

Aaron Cosgrave did get one back for Whites midway through the second half but it only proved as a consolation for Dover.

Earlier in the day, Andy Hessenthaler made one change from the 0-0 draw with Chesterfield on Saturday with Ricky Miller coming back in for Travis Gregory who missed out through injury.

The home side started strong and dominated the early possession. House almost gave them the lead, however, the ball was deflected wide into the side netting, with the resulting corner coming to nothing.

Despite riding out the early storm, Dover couldn’t capitalise and Eastleigh took hold of the game with two goals in the space of a minute.

They took the lead through Hill who collected the ball well into the box before finishing it low past Josh Bexon. Straight from kick off, they doubled their lead when Pritchard got on the end of Hare’s cross to head home.

Hill almost doubled his own tally midway through the first half, but Bexon did well to make the save down to his left-hand side.

However, Eastleigh didn’t have to wait long to get a third as House’s shot from close range beat Bexon.

It got even worse for Whites as Hare fired home to add a fourth on the stroke of half time.

House looked to make it five just after half time but Bexon did well to stop the ball and make a good save.

Against the run of play, Cosgrave got one back for Whites as he did well to get on the end of a cross to decrease the deficit, however, it only proved as a consolation as Dover were easily beaten.

Dover earned their first point of the season as they held promotion chasing Chesterfield to a goalless draw at Crabble.

Whites will be the happiest of the two sides in a game that lacked any real clear cut chances.

Earlier on in the day, Whites boss Andy Hessenthaler made one change from the defeat to Altrincham last weekend, with Jake Goodman replacing Ricky Miller.

Dover almost went ahead inside 10 minutes when visiting goalkeeper Scott Loach could only parry Aaron Cosgrave’s shot towards Koby Arthur, however Spirerite captain Gavin Gunning would get there before the onrushing Arthur to clear the ball out of play.

Gunning then almost showed what he could do up front as he headed over from Jak McCourt’s corner.

Kabongo Tshimanga then had a great chance to put the visitors ahead shortly before the break, but Josh Bexon made a great save to deny the striker.

Down the other end, Travis Gregory went close to putting the home side ahead, but his shot from outside the area flew into the hands of Loach.

The away side looked to start the second half strong and almost took the lead after Calvin Miller did well down the left hand side before crossing the ball along the face of goal, however nobody was on the end of it to poke the ball home.

Liam Mandeville then went close as the visitors continued to look for chances. Danny Rowe found Tshimanga, who in turn found Mandeville, but the forward could only strike over the bar.

In the final 10 minutes Gregory and second half substitute Miller both had chances from the edge of the box, with Loach smothering Gregory’s shot before Miller shot wide.

Despite going in front twice, Dover suffered a third successive National League defeat this season in an entertaining contest at Altrincham.

Koby Arthur opened the scoring with his first goal for the club, but Whites were pegged back just after 20 minutes through Dan Mooney.

Aaron Cosgrave put Dover back in front midway through the second half, but the home side equalised once again shortly after through A-Jay Leitch-Smith and with a few minutes to go Ryan Colclough won it for Alty.

Dover started bright and was almost ahead within five minutes when Ricky Miller collected the ball from a long kick from Josh Bexon, however his shot went just wide.

However, moments later Whites were ahead though Arthur who was in the right place at the right time to knock the ball home after Cosgrave did very well to get behind the home defence.

Cosgrave almost doubled Dover’s lead shortly after as he picked the ball up in the box, but his shot was blocked well by Brad Jackson.

This came back to haunt the away side as Altrincham levelled through Mooney when the midfielder was able to take Joel Senior’s ball under control before striking past the arm of Bexon.

Connor Kirby then went close to turning the game around, however, after getting the ball from Mooney, he couldn’t keep his shot down.

Alty continued to put pressure on the Dover defence and they would have been ahead if it wasn’t for Bexon who denied Marcus Dinanga with a great save after the striker did well to find a shot after a great cross.

Alty’s goalkeeper Tony Thompson – who was unbeatable when these two sides played at Crabble last season – then made a great save to keep the scores level as he made himself big to deny Ben Williamson’s header from five yards out.

Altrincham started to control the game during the second half, with chances coming from both Mooney and Matty Kosylo.

However, these missed chances looked to have proved costly when Cosgrave gave Whites the lead just before the hour mark with a brilliant strike from the edge of the area, turning the defender and striking into the top corner, giving Thompson no chance.

Despite going behind, Alty continued to control the game and got their just rewards through second-half substitute Leitch-Smith as he connected to a cross into the box to convert past Bexon.

With minutes left, the home side went ahead for the first time in the afternoon through Colclough who scored a penalty after the winger was fouled in the box by Danny Collinge.