By Pete Martin
Salisbury bounced back from 2 defeats with a dominant 4-0 win away at Yate Town. Steve Claridge made 3 changes to his starting lineup with Ben Thomson and Marvin Brooks replacing Dan Fitchett and Devon Arnold in attack and Ethan Sutcliffe making a debut in defence replacing the suspended Dinesh Gillela.
In contrast to Tuesday, the Whites got off to a perfect start and took the lead after just 3 minutes through Brandon Goodship. The former Weymouth man received the ball in the attacking wide left area and quick feet saw him shift the ball inside and smash the ball into the top corner. The early goal allowed Salisbury to control the pace of the game and they saw plenty of the ball with Yate struggling to impose themselves on the game. The Whites didn’t create much in the way of chances until, on 21 minutes, a quick break saw Antonio Diaz feed the ball wide to Goodship and his quick cutback inside saw Diaz who curled a 1st-time effort against the bar.
There was very little else in the way of goalmouth play until in time added on at the end of the half Salisbury were able to double their lead. A long ball over the top from Sutcliffe found Diaz running in behind, and when he tucked the ball back to Charlie Davis, the fullback delivered a pinpoint ball to the back post where left back Josh Sommerton rose like a salmon to nod into the back of the net and send the away side in with a 2 goal lead.
The 2nd half saw much of a similar pattern with Salisbury happy to dominate the possession and Yate unable to cause any sort of problem for the Whites. Clearcut chances were few and far between despite Salisbury having plenty of ball with substitute Devon Arnold causing plenty of problems with his pace down the right and on 66 minutes his ball across couldn’t find a teammate to apply the finishing touch. The 3rd goal arrived after 73 minutes and saw Goodship apply the finish to a good team move. Diaz tucked the ball forward and midfielder Josh Wakefield made a fantastic forward run to beat keeper Martin Horsell to the ball; he nodded across to Goodship who took a touch inside and slotted home his 2nd goal.
Up until that point Yate had failed to cause any problems to the White’s defence and it took until time added on at the end of the game for them to trouble Gerard Benfield in the White’s goal and the keeper was alert to push wide a shot from the edge of the area by Oli Mayhew. With just seconds left on the clock, Salisbury were awarded a free kick about 25 yards from goal and Goodship stepped up to fire the ball home for his hat-trick, although Horsell will feel he could have done better with the low shot. Straight from the kick-off, the whistle went to seal a well-deserved 3 points for Salisbury.
The Whites are back at home next Saturday when they take on Wiltshire rivals Swindon Supermarine.
Team: Benfield, Davis(Arnold), Sommerton, Roberts, Sutcliffe(Fox), Wakefield, Mullings, Brooks(Penny), Diaz, Goodship, Thomson
Unused Subs: Fitchett
