Alton pay the price for a sloppy first hour as relegated Eastleigh fire a defiant parting shot.

Eastleigh survived a strong second-half Alton fightback to clinch a well-merited win at a scorching Bishopstoke.

Alton paid the price for an awful, error-ridden first 50 minutes in which they conceded sixteen points without reply.

But late tries from Stephen Johns and Dan Forsyth pegged the home side back, and Alton nearly stole victory at the end when wing Bruce Oliphant was denied a late score by a desperate piece of covering from Eastleigh's Wayne Rawlins.

Victory was bitter-sweet for the home side, however. New Milton's victory against Fareham Heathens means that Eastleigh will be playing in Hampshire 2 next year.

Alton's first-half performance was decidedly off-colour and lackadaisical, as if they were already planning their summer holidays. It was no real surprise therefore that relegation-threatened Eastleigh began with the greater purpose.

The home forwards, in particular, competed with an aggression and a togetherness that Alton found difficult to match in the first period. They caused Alton all manner of problems at the scrum and it was the Eastleigh back-row who were consistently first to the breakdowns.

Alton, by contrast, simply could not retain the ball in the opening quarter and thus were unable to string together any meaningful phases.

Eastleigh took the lead after just 42 seconds when Alton were penalised in front of their posts for coming off their feet at a ruck, Russ Smith slotting the points.

Smith shoed a similar attempt badly eight minutes later, but he doubled his side's advantage on the quarter-hour when an Alton tackler was penalised for failing to roll away.

In between times, Rawlins had a try ruled out for a forward pass but Smith landed his third penalty shortly before half-time - again Alton were called for infringing at a ruck.

Alton pushed the self-destruct button immediately after the interval - though there was a hint of the bizarre about Eastleigh's try.

A speculative long kick found its way into Alton's 22 and Oliphant, surprised by the bounce, was caught in possession and robbed. But before Eastleigh could capitalise from the ensuing ruck, the referee had awarded a penalty try. It was a marginal decision that perplexed all and sundry but Smith converted and Eastleigh were sailing at 16-0.

As if stirred into action by the penalty try incident, Alton responded and threw everything at their hosts.

Their industry was rewarded when Johns forced his way over after a neat blindside break and Forsyth touched down in the left-hand corner eight minutes from the end after a sweet move involving a dozen pairs of hands.

A sweeping counter-attack at the death nearly bore fruit - Oliphant took a ball on his 22, kicked ahead and gathered and appeared certain to score under the posts, only for Rawlins to intervene and save the day.

But Eastleigh clung on to seal a defiant win and condemn Alton to their sixth away defeat.

It was a disappointing end to season that promised much early on, but a third-place finish after two successive relegation seasons suggests that the rot has been stopped and sunnier times lay ahead.

Alton: Wallace; Oliphant, Rees, Ott, Forsyth; Johns, Grace (Pead 60); Watts (Hopkin 70), Parratt (c), Gay (Hopkin 12-15; 21-25); Greenhalgh, White; Carter, Davies, Jones.

* Alton 2nd XV arrived at Trojans for their Hampshire Senior Merit play-off semi-final, only to be informed that the game had been cancelled by the Hampshire RFU four days earlier.