By Pete Martin
Salisbury picked up their 1st 3 points of 2023 with a comprehensive 3-0 win on their 1st ever visit to Hanwell Town. The Whites made 2 changes from the midweek draw against Harrow; new signings Aaron McCreadie and Michael Fernandes replacing Josh Carmichael and Dan Fitchett.
Salisbury made a bright start and within the 1st minute, Brandon Goodship drew a save from home keeper Matteo Salamon with a low shot. Hanwell gave an early indication of their threat as they pounced on a loose ball and broke forward, with Kain Adom unlucky to see his shot across goal bounce clear off the inside of the post. The Whites immediately came forward and saw Thomas McDermott shoot wide from the edge of the area, before 3 minutes later Hanwell hit the woodwork for the 2nd time; Tom McElroy was the man to see his shot go wide via the post.
On 12 minutes, Salamon was down well to deny James Plant before 4 minutes later the Whites took the lead; Tobi Ogundega heading home at the near post from Brandon Goodship’s corner. Following the opening goal the game settled down with very little in the way of penalty box play for the next 15 minutes until Salisbury doubled their lead on 31 minutes. McDermott picked the ball up in midfield and attempted to play it through to Plant. His initial pass was cut out by the Hanwell defender but he failed to clear and allowed the winger to steal the ball back and slot home underneath Salamon. The rest of the half was fairly comfortable for Salisbury, and they could even have added to their tally but the referee adjudged Fernandes to have taken the ball out of Salamon’s hands despite the keeper appearing to not have the ball under control, ensuring just a 2 goal lead for the Whites at half time.
As was to be expected, Hanwell came out for the 2nd half looking to get back into the game and 4 minutes after the restart they could have pulled 1 back, but firstly Matthew Mackenzie miskicked when well-placed in the box before the ball broke to substitute Jack Hutchinson only for him to blaze over the bar from 12 yards out. Salisbury had a good chance to extend their lead on 53 minutes but Goodship found himself crowded out when released into the box following good pressure from Fernandes and then 10 minutes later Plant saw his low shot comfortably saved by Salamon when well placed inside the box. Just 5 minutes later, Hanwell hit the post for the 3rd time in the match, defender Calum Duffy the man denied this time with Gerard Benfield relieved to see his half-volley bounce back from the inside of the woodwork when a corner fell nicely to him.
4 minutes later, the Whites wrapped the game up as they added a 3rd. Calvin Brooks was in sharply to win the ball on the halfway line and marched forward with it. His inch-perfect ball found substitute Fitchett running in behind the defence and he finished calmly beyond Salamon and low into the net. 7 minutes later McDermott was again denied by the Hanwell custodian before the home side did manage to find the net; Hutchinson tapping in at the back post only to see the assistant referee raise his flag for the offside. There was just time left for a poor Hanwell challenge to spark a melee resulting in 3 yellow cards before the referee blew his whistle to end the game and send the Whites home with their 1st win in 7 games.
Salisbury will look to finally complete their Wiltshire Premier Shield game at home to Highworth on Tuesday night before welcoming Tiverton Town to the Ray Mac for a league game next Saturday 25th February, 3 pm kick-off.
Team: Benfield, Brooks C, Sommerton, Kherbouche(Carmichael), Ogundega, McCreadie, Yang, McDermott, Plant, Goodship(Tomlinson), Fernandes(Fitchett)
Unused Subs: Arnold D, Gillela.
