SALISBURY City’s horrendous run of seven straight defeats was brought to a stunning end in front of the Setanta television cameras at the Ray Mac last night, as the Whites saw off league high-flyers Crawley Town 2-0.

City boss Nick Holmes made three changes to the side that crashed out of the FA Cup at Team Bath last weekend, with Scott Bartlett, Brian Dutton, and Ian Herring added to the starting line-up and Wayne Turk, Darrell Clarke and Matt Robinson relegated to the subs’ bench.

The changes seemed to give City a freshness that had been lacking in recent weeks and they started the game brightly.

The front three in Salisbury’s 4-3-3 formation, Andy Sandell, Charlie Griffin and Matt Tubbs, were electric in the early stages and all came close to putting City into the lead.

The Whites’ best chance came when Griffin latched on to a bouncing ball that a Crawley defender had tried to head back to his keeper. Griffin’s header looped upwards, but did not have enough power to beat Simon Rayner in the Crawley goal.

With Crawley lacking in ideas and Salisbury’s back-line limiting the visitor’s to hopeful long-range shots, the Whites always looked the more threatening side.

This pattern continued through to the second half and it was no surprise when City took the lead in the 49th minute.

Some good work down the left saw Brian Dutton swing in a tantalising cross, which Rayner came out to claim but only succeeded in fumbling the ball into his own net.

This fortunate opener was no less than City deserved and the goal seemed to galvanise the home side even more.

Bartlett flashed a long-range shot wide, Ian Herring missed with a good effort after being fed through by Sandell, and Tubbs shot wide when he found himself in space on the edge of the Crawley box as City searched for a second.

If Salisbury’s first goal was fortunate, their second, when it came, was pure class. Right back Sean Clohessy surged down the right wing and cut in towards goal, before unleashing a curling left foot shot that took a slight deflection on its way to nestling in the bottom corner of the net.

There was a heart-stopping moment for Salisbury fans as Crawley sub John-Paul Pittman was put clean through shortly after the second goal went in, but City keeper James Bittner stood up well and the threat was eventually cleared.

Aside from that chance, Crawley did not threaten and the Whites could have extended their lead on more than one occasion after the introduction of the lively Liam Feeney in the 75th minute.

Speaking after the game, Holmes was full of praise for his hard-working side. He said: “We did get a bit of luck with our first goal but we have been overdue some good fortune. Sometimes a lucky break like that can get the wheels in motion and that was certainly the case in this game.

“It is still important to do things right, work hard and play as well as we can as a team, but we did that and were rewarded with some good fortune.

“Crawley have had a cracking start to the season but I thought coming into this match that it was one we could win if we were on our game, and, fortunately, we were.”

The Whites now have a weekend off before they go back to Twerton Park, the scene of their cup exit last weekend, on Tuesday night, this time to play Bath City in the Setanta Shield.