Ebbsfleet’s winless National League run extended to 10 matches at Stonebridge Road on Wednesday night.

A goalkeeping error by Mark Cousins presented Eastleigh with their first away win since August.

Ebbsfleet made three changes from the side beaten by Solihull Moors 11 days earlier. Luke O’Neill was back for the first time since September 10 with Franklin Domi and Rakish Bingham also in the starting line-up, replacing Kwame Thomas, Jim Kellermann and Todd Kane.

Eastleigh dominated the early exchanges, forcing a string of early corners and bombarding the Fleet penalty area with long throws.

Keeper Cousins had to turn Paul McCallum’s near-post shot behind for a corner before skipper Josh Wright cleared off the line on five minutes.

Cousins made an excellent block on nine minutes, out smartly to thwart Scott Quigley after strike partner McCallum’s clever pass through.

Ebbsfleet were struggling to retain the ball, let alone get out of their half. Indeed, it took 21 minutes for the hosts to register a shot on goal, Bingham setting up Aaron Cosgrave, whose first-time effort was comfortably saved low down by Eastleigh keeper Joe McDonnell.

The visitors lost wing-back Jake Vokins to injury before the half-hour but, for all their possession and territorial dominance, they failed to create any more clear-cut openings in the first half with substitute Dominic Gape and McCallum both firing well over from distance.

It was a tough 45 minutes for Domi, whose passing was erratic, and boss Harry Watling replaced him with Tom Dallison at the break, changing the Fleet to match up Eastleigh’s 3-5-2 formation.

Ebbsfleet produced a long throw of their own courtesy of Tyler Cordner on 53 minutes and it nearly produced a breakthrough as the loose ball fell for Jephte Tanga, but he flashed his shot narrowly wide of the upright.

As has often been the case this season, Ebbsfleet were in relative comfort and duly pressed the self-destruct bottom. Cousins’ pass out went straight to Quigley and he beat the stranded keeper before having the composure to finish past the covering defender on the line and give Eastleigh a 61st-minute lead.

The goal led to a three-minute delay as Eastleigh celebrated, McCallum was cautioned for taking his time being substituted and then the referee took a further 50 seconds to get the game going when everyone was finally in position.

Quigley went down theatrically in his own penalty area as Eastleigh used every trick in the book to try and get their way to the final whistle with a clean sheet intact.

There was a league debut for Maxx Manktelow with eight minutes left and how keeper McDonnell never got booked for timewasting was a mystery to everyone except referee Aaron Farmer.

Only five minutes of stoppage time were indicated but the Fleet never looked likely to fashion an equaliser.

Ebbsfleet: Cousins, O’Neill (Kane 63mins), Wright, Cordner, Bingham, Domi (Dallison 46mins), Edser, Tanga (Manktelow 82mins), Chapman, Cosgrave (Poleon 72mins), Stewart. Subs not used: Berry, Fonguck, Wakely.

Eastleigh: McDonnell, Vokins (Gape 29mins, Fernandez 78mins), Humphries, Francilette, Taylor, McCallum (Brindley 63mins), Shade (Maguire 78mins), Waruih, Quigley, Boutin, Maher. Subs not used: Scott, Stepien-Iwumene, Underhill.

Referee: Aaron Farmer.

Attendance: 1,023 (35 away).