The Dev had to fight hard today to get 3 vital points in the context of the league against a physical and direct Calne side at the Ray Mac.
The visitors definitely started the stronger and the young whites defence had to withstand a torrent of pressure, but thanks to some woeful finishing, mostly from distance it has to be said, they held out.
Layton Tulk on his return to the squad broke the deadlock on the 18th minute when centre half Tom Feest strolled out from the back and dinked a beautiful chip over the back 4 for Tulk to run onto an finish with aplomb. Late’s as he is known has been a regular goal scorer for the side since under 18.
A game that then to and throwed for both sides was levelled when Aiden Savage made a wrong decision to pass back to the keeper whom had to race to beat the Calne striker to the ball, he got there first but ball rebounded into the empty net. It’s not the first time I have seen that happen at the Ray Mac, and I suspect it won’t be the last.
Defensively the Whites switched off and A long switched ball caught the whites out to make it 2-1 to the visitors and possibly at that stage of the game they just deserved that. They went on to create more chances as did the home side but those chances went begging until Salisbury’s right winger Layton Tulk took matters into his own hands to level the scores with plenty of time still to go.
For most of the 2nd half the Whites where on top in this game keeping possession well and moving the ball around as they normally do. A few bursts from Sam Butt and Aiden Savage from midfield where causing panic in the Calne defence and allowing the hosts to assert pressure on the visitors defence.
A change on around 60 minutes saw Will Waterson enter the field for his first game in a good few weeks, and Reece McSorely. Ed Timperley and Max Allen departing. Within seven or 8 minutes those two combined when Will accelerated away from the opposition defence to go one on one with the keeper, the stopper did well to get out to block the rapid striker, but the ball only broke to McSorely who had anticipated the chance to fire into an empty net.
The young Salisbury team then saw out the remainder of the game (not always comfortable enough for my liking) but the celebrations at the final whistle showed how hard they had to battle for this victory.
Calne Town were a decent side and we had to dig deep, ride our luck at times but importantly a few players returning today got valuable minutes and will only get better, Sam Butt, Will Waterson for two. Both amongst our top scorers the last few seasons but again both playing their first game for a while, Sam since the season began.
We move on to next Saturday when we visit Corsham Town dev for another tough game. The Dev still have as much as 4 games in hand over other sides in the league and will be playing catch up on games for the next couple of months, but today was a vital win against a side already where we want to be.
