By Pete Martin
The Whites picked up just their 2nd win under Brian Dutton as a blistering start helped see them to a 3-1 victory away at Hartley Wintney. There were 2 changes to the manager’s teamsheet; Dinesh Gillela and Dan Fitchett replacing Seung Yang and Sam Ashton.
It took just 2 minutes for Salisbury to take the lead; early pressure from Lucas Tomlinson forced a corner and his ball in found its way through to Nassim Kherbouche and, on just his 2nd start for the club, he notched his 1st goal; slamming the ball home from 6 yards out. 5 minutes later, the lead was doubled, with both players involved once more. Again Tomlinson’s corner caused problems and this time Kherbouche was the provider, with Josh Carmichael being the man to fire home from close range. At the other end, there was a half chance for the home side following a corner before the Whites added to their tally on 11 minutes with Jerry Lawrence slotting home from inside the box following good work down the right from Tomlinson and Devon Arnold.
Hartley Wintney were starting to get involved and Zidan Akers saw a shot blocked behind for a corner before, just after the half-hour mark, they pulled a goal back. A long clearance from keeper Damian Niemczycki was allowed to bounce and zipped off the surface; with Kingsley Eshun being alert to nip in and round Gerard Benfield, with Kherbouce unable to get back and stop him slotting home. As the clock ticked towards half time, Salisbury looked the more likely to add to their goal tally but Niemczycki was quick off his line to deny Arnold and then perfectly placed to save from Fitchett’s shot from the edge of the area shortly before the whistle went to signal half time.
The 2nd half was slow to get going with Salisbury looking well organised and Hartley Wintney unable to fashion a chance to trouble Benfield in the White’s goal. The home side had plenty of the ball, without creating much, and on 65 minutes they had a strong appeal for a penalty to no avail; whilst at the other end, Fitchett was unable to outpace the defence when Carmichael’s ball through found him in space. On 76 minutes, Benfield was finally called into action; Akers the player denied at the near post with the subsequent corner amounting to nothing. With The White’s doing a good job of seeing the game out and running down the clock, frustrations boiled over for the home side with Akers shown a straight red card in time added on for a poor challenge on Brooks and Salisbury saw out the final minutes with no danger to seal the win and a well deserved 3 points.
The Whites are on the road again this Saturday 26th November, this time making the journey to Harrow Borough for a 3 pm kick off.
Team: Benfield, Brooks C, Sommerton, Roberts, Kherbouche, Gillela, Carmichael, Arnold D, Lawrence(Wakefield), Tomlinson, Fitchett(Goodship)
Unused Subs: Lee, Roocroft, Arnold C
