SALISBURY twice took the lead before a late Trojans goal condemned them to an unfortunate 3-2 defeat against the Hampshire/Surrey Regional Division 2 leaders at Stoneham Lane, writes Mike Vimpany.

For long periods of the game Salisbury frustrated the title favourites, denying Trojans space and setting up moves of their own, many of which came through the industrious Rory McTaggart.

Salisbury grabbed the lead through a controversial Mark Dunne goal, which left Trojans playing catch-up virtually until the half time break.

Dunne’s out-of-D shot struck a foot on his way past Trojans goalkeeper Steve Cole.

The hosts claimed the ball struck a Salisbury boot; Salisbury vice-versa – and the goal stood.

But Trojans are always dangerous from penalty corner routines and when an injection by Richard Alves picked out Ed Jeffery, the teenager rifled a now trademark drag flick equaliser.

Salisbury, belying their lowly third-from-bottom status in the log, regrouped and soon after the break regained the lead.

A long aerial pass by Dan Dines found McTaggart, whose cross was swept under Cole’s body by James Hayward.

Trojans hit back through Alves but, despite enjoying far greater possession, struggled to break down Salisbury’s determined rearguard.

With only minute remaining, Trojans grabbed their late winner – Rory King feeding Chris Gittens, who did the spadework for a simple James Sordillo tap-in.

SALISBURY men’s hockey fourths dropped to sixth in the league after losing 4-0 at Fareham.

The visitors controlled the game early doors, but failed to really bother the opposition’s goalkeeper. Their only shot of the whole game came from Dan Hawksworth who steered past a post.

Fareham started to push on and one of their quality players changed the nature of the game, putting Salisbury’s defence on the back-foot, and consequently conceded three times before the break. Having missed a couple of games, Hugh Thomas came more into his own in the second half, but despite some good pressure, it was the hosts who rounded off a comfortable victory with a fourth.