With the Conference ground grading due the next day, it was good to see the scoreboard and Hopback Brewery board back in place between the two new stands. It was even better to see Paul Sales back on the pitch with a cast on his injured hand allowing him to play.
With three kids watching the game from a vantage point on top of the spoil heap outside the ground, Salisbury kicked off and soon it became clear how much they had missed Sales. On 10 minutes he and Tubbs combined with a 1-2 that Tubbs should have hit in. Two minutes later and Sales was on the scoresheet. After forcing two corners in quick succession, the ball came in from the left wing. Sales rose above the defence unmarked and the keeper made a good save with his foot only to see Sales slide in and poke the ball in from close range.
Fisher had a couple of pacy strikers up front and made a couple of half chances but the ball was mainly at the far end. After 20 minutes, Jerome Watt made a great run down the left side and put a great cross in to the far post. Aaron Cook slid in but put his shot well over the bar from close in.
Five minutes later it was 2.0 - Sales put the ball into Tubbs path and he ran into space and shot past the keeper. Watt was playing with a lot of confidence and five minutes later showed this with a backheel to set up Sales with a scoring opportunity.
Fisher's main threat was to try and profit from Salisbury's mistakes. They were hardly out of their half and when they did manage to get into the final third, they weren't able to link up with each other. On 27 minutes Cook slipped on the edge of the box and let Fisher's no 9 in on goal. However he could only manage a weak shot at goal that Clarke gathered with ease - to the disappointment of his unmarked teammate on the other side of the box who was screaming at him for the ball.
Watt continued to excite the crowd and on 33 minutes he took the ball, passed it around the defender and took it from the left side of the box into the centre. His shot beat the keeper but ended up just past the post. It was certainly the best performance he'd put in since joining on loan from Northampton. Fisher certainly recognised this as they put some hard tackles in on him and on Prince.
There had been a couple of yellow cards for those tackles but the first red card was off the pitch as Tommy Widdrington was sent to the stand for something he had said to the assistant referee.
At the start of the second half, the teams were ready to start the game but the Fisher keeper hadn't appeared. While the Salisbury fans were happy for the referee to continue, he decided to wait and a couple of minutes later the keeper strolled out to join his team mates.
Just after the start, Tubbs embarked on one of his trademark runs and got round the defence only for the ball to bobble out in front of the regulars on the far side. Salisbury's passing and moving seemed much more fluid with Sales back, he controlled the ball well and his first touch was excellent. Fisher seemed to have gone from bad to worse and one shot they attempted went out for a throw in.
Salisbury continued to pressure but another goal seemed like it wouldn't arrive. On the 72nd minute Fisher changed both of their strikers to look for a change in fortune. There was a big scramble in the middle and the referee was knocked over, leading to a dropball that Tubbs won after a bit of confusion. It appeared that Fishers subs were making a difference but it was confirmed in a manner their manager wouldn't have expected. Matt Tubbs put a cross in from the byline and the no 15 volleyed it past his own keeper to stop Luke Prince getting the ball.
At 3.0 Salisbury should have been cruising but there were a few hearts in mouth three minutes later when Ryan Clarke missed a backpass but managed to sprint back and grab the ball just before a Fisher striker could get to the ball.
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