First half goals from Alex Read and Joe Benjamin put the Hawks in a commanding position, with Eastleigh unable to create any significant efforts at goal.

The hosts came flying out of the blocks with a high tempo against a youthful Eastleigh side. Alex Read fired a warning shot when his effort flashed across the goal-line from a tight angle.

Joe Benjamin then played Alex Read beyond the defence, but it was only an inch perfect tackle from James Granger within his own penalty area that dispossessed the striker and prevented him from getting a shot away.

Joe Benjamin himself then went close when Eastleigh stopper Scott Brown flapped at a cross. The winger smashed a shot goalwards but Granger was once again on hand to block the effort.

Alex Read then hit the crossbar when Brown got a hand to a powerful shot, deflecting the ball of the floor and onto the bar and out of danger.

Read did hit the target on 22 minutes. Harlow captain Craig Pope cut back from the byline and the striker hooked it home in front of goal to the delight of the bumper home crowd.

The lead was doubled 12 minutes later when another cross from Pope reached Joe Benjamin at the back post, who lashed it home with a powerful shot.

Two minutes later Benjamin almost got a second. The winger, who was unplayable at times, breezed past two Eastleigh defenders before curling a right-footed shot towards the top corner. Only a sublime save from Scott Brown kept the scoreline down.

Brown denied the Hawks again with a string of saves. Syrus Gordon‘s volley was heading for the corner, but yet again the visiting ‘keeper tipped the ball around the post, before he dived well to save Mario Noto’s low shot.

HT: Harlow Town 2-0 Eastleigh

The second period continued in much the same vein. Mario Noto flashed a cross across goal, but Jared Small was inches away from tapping home.

Eastleigh were struggling to have any impact in their attacking threat, and it was truly a one-sided game. In a rare attack Owen Fee tried his luck from distance, but David Hughes collected comfortably.

The Hawks were close to extending their lead when a scramble inside the Eastleigh 6 yard box saw both Alex Read and Jared Small shoot at goal. Defender Tony Lee somehow extended a leg to block the close range efforts on the line.

Ibrahima Sonko’s looping header from a corner grazed the crossbar, before Alex Read again forced Scott into a diving save with a header of his own.

The visitors’ best chance to score came when Dillon Kirkwood broke beyond the Harlow defence, but David Hughes was quick out of his area to clear the danger.

Fabion Simms was instrumental in the Harlow midfield and his low long-range shot looked to be going in, but it just grazed the upright.

Jared Small also tried his luck from distance, but again couldn’t find the target.

Harlow saw out the rest of the game to complete an impressive and well-deserved victory over their opponents from two leagues higher.

FT: Harlow Town 2-0 Eastleigh
ATTENDANCE: 482

Harlow Town will now go into the hat for the draw for the Second Round, the furthest the Hawks have progressed since 2003.