By Pete Martin
Salisbury made it back-to-back away wins with a hard-fought 1-0 win away at Harrow Borough. Brian Dutton made 1 change to his starting lineup with Josh Wakefield replacing Jerry Lawrence.
The Whites got off to a good start and could have taken the lead after 4 minutes but Wakefield couldn’t connect properly after Calvin Brooks had put the ball in from the right. The home side had a great chance after 9 minutes as Montel Brown got away down the Harrow right and played the ball across, only to see Isiah Noel-Williams screw the ball wide when well placed. A couple of shots from Dan Fitchett and Josh Carmichael didn’t trouble the home goal before, on 20 minutes, Jacob Knightbridge was called into action to deny Sam Roberts from a corner. The next Harrow chance arrived after 38 minutes and it saw George Moore draw a fine low save from Gerard Benfield, with the subsequent corner amounting to nothing. Just before half time, Moore put a fine ball across the box with no one able to convert and the teams went in level at half time.
The second half begin with the home team pushing forward and on 51 minutes Benfield twice denied them in a goal-mouth scramble, before 8 minutes later Brown drew another fine save from the keeper with a 25-yard effort. A couple of changes around the hour mark saw both Brandon Goodship and Marvin Brooks introduced as the Whites attempted to gain control of the game. It was starting to become end-to-end and after another good save by Benfield from Brown, both sides hit the woodwork within 3 minutes of each other. Firstly Harrow’s Moore banged a shot against the post before Goodship slipped in Fitchett whose toe-poked effort went wide off the post. On 76 minutes the game’s only goal arrived and it came via great work from Fitchett on the right, who rolled his marker to great effect and played the ball across to Brooks who bundled home from 3 yards. Harrow could have bounced straight back but Izunna Ikebuasi headed over the bar when well placed from a corner. Despite the home team piling plenty of pressure on as the game entered its later stages, they were only able to create one further chance; Billy Leonard drawing a low save from Benfield as the game ticked towards time added on. The Whites battled hard to keep the clean sheet and were able to see out the final minutes and claim the 3 points.
Salisbury has 7 days off now before they welcome Hendon to the Ray Mac, with a slightly early kick-off time of 1 pm.
Team: Benfield, Brooks C, Sommerton, Roberts, Kherbouche, Gillela(Yang), Carmichael, Wakefield(Brooks M), Arnold, Tomlinson(Goodship), Fitchett.
Unused subs: Lee.
