With heavy snowfall locally I hadn't expected to find any football on today. A quick check on Twitter when I woke up indicated that Salisbury supporters were working on clearing the pitch to try and get the game on. I checked again around 2pm and found confirmation that this was one of the few games around the country that had survived the weather.
After bundling up to keep warm I wandered round to the Ray Mac. Outside the nearest turnstiles were huge piles of snow. When I got into the ground the pitch looked near immaculate as the teams warmed up. The parking was free but limited to the main area which wasn't an issue with a small crowd of 464.
The first half was a near repeat of the Truro game with Salisbury taking an early lead and dominating the game, only to concede a late goal. Jamie White scored the first after 5 minutes, intercepting a back pass, rounding the keeper as he rushed out of his area before passing the ball into an empty net. In the 11th minute Frear took on several Staines defenders as he ran in from the left wing. His mazy dribble beat them all and he placed a low shot away from the keeper and into the right side of the goal.
McPhee added a third after 19 minutes with a unchallenged clinical finish from the edge of the six yard box. Scott in the Salisbury goal didn't have much to do in the half although his point blank save just after the first goal was crucial in keeping Salisbury's momentum. Staines had a long free kick that looked to be an attempt at a cross but looped over Scott's hand and bounced out off the top of the bar after 26 minutes. They pulled one goal back in injury time. A quick clearance from defence followed by an accurate through ball allowed Wheeler to beat the defence. He ran through to the penalty area and hit a great shot high into the net.
Salisbury made a couple of changes in the second half and never really managed to get going much to the frustration of the supporters. Staines upped their game and had two chances from crosses that just needed a touch to guide them past Scott. A couple of shots went narrowly wide as the pressure was all at the far end which wasn't open due to the snowfall. White had one clear chance near the end of the game when he went through with the ball but the Staines keeper made a good save to keep the score down.
The result keeps the pressure on Welling in second place, 9 points behind with a backlog of 3 games in hand and a superior goal difference.
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