By Pete Martin
Salisbury’s first away game of the season ended in a narrow defeat in the sweltering heat of West London against last year’s losing play-off finalists Hayes and Yeading United.
The Whites team saw one change from last week’s win, Brandon Goodship dropping to the bench and Josh Wakefield coming into midfield.
The home side were the first to threaten and Gerard Benfield picked up where he left off last week with an early double save. First, he got down well to keep out Mo Bettamer’s free kick and then reacted quickly to push the follow-up from Charlie Wassmer around the post. With the temperature well into the 30s, it was not a day for fast-flowing football, with chances few and far between until on 19 minutes Hayes took the lead. A long ball over the top saw Moses Emmanuel outmuscle Dinesh Gillela and, despite a slight suspicion of handball, last seasons league’s top scorer calmly lifted the ball over Benfield and into the back of the net.
Salisbury reacted well to going behind and started to see a lot more of the ball, although a shot from Antonio Diaz going over the bar was all they were able to create until just before half-time when Devon Arnold showed good pace to race clear of the defence, but he couldn’t get enough on his shot and home keeper Jacob Adams was able to smother the effort. With plenty of time added on for drinks breaks there were half chances for Hayes’s Steve Ngunga and Amos Nasha but neither were able to take advantage meaning the home side went in with a narrow 1 goal lead.
The Whites started the 2nd half brightly and despite not being able to create any golden chances they looked lively coming forward with Ben Thomson just unable to get on the end of Josh Wakefield’s ball in and Marvin Brooks’s header from 10 yards comfortably saved by Adams. The best chance for Salisbury came on 68 minutes and saw Brandon Goodship curl an effort narrowly wide from the edge of the area following a corner being cleared to him whilst at the other end Emmanuel flicked the ball just wide following a dangerous cross in from the right.
With the game heading into a lengthy period of added time, the final 10 minutes proved to be action-packed. It started when Adams came close to carrying the ball over his own line from Sam Roberts’ header before he set his team away on the break which ended in Toby Gould’s shot being well saved by Benfield before a red card apiece saw both teams end with 10 men. Firstly Salisbury’s Gillela was shown 2 yellow cards in the space of 90 seconds to receive his marching orders before 4 minutes later Nasha picked up his 2nd yellow to follow him in for an early bath. Deep into time added on the Whites could have snatched a point when Wakefield saw his curled shot smash the crossbar following his initial effort being blocked and Hayes were able to see the game out and earn the 3 points
Salisbury will look to bounce back on Tuesday evening when they welcome Hartley Wintney to the Ray Mac for a 7:45pm kick-off.
Team: Benfield, Davis(Penny), Sommerton, Roberts, Gillela, Wakefield, Mullings, Arnold, Diaz, Brooks M(Goodship), Thomson(Fitchett).
Unused Sub: Savage
