A MUCH-IMPROVED Salisbury Hockey Men's firsts inflicted a 7-0 mauling over rock-bottom Fareham on Saturday.

A hat-trick from Dom Welman and goals from Steve Booth, Tom Morton, Martin Clarke and skipper Andy Renshaw ensured the Lower Bemerton outfit moved up to fifth in Hampshire Area Division 1.

From the start, Salisbury exerted huge pressure on the Fareham defence, with the majority of the hockey played in the Fareham half.

It didn't take long for the visitors to take the lead, the scoring opened after a short corner was worked to Welman who deflected the ball home. Their lead was doubled soon after when Booth fired home another short corner, taking a 2-0 cushion into the interval.

Having learnt their lesson from the previous week at home to Weymouth, Salisbury started the second half with a high tempo.

And the visitors scored a brilliant third five minutes into the half, a lofted pass across the D from Clarke gave Welman the chance to smash a volley past the Fareham goalkeeper.

Welman completed his hat-trick soon after, slotting home after an initial shot at goal was saved, to make it 4-0.

Welman then turned provider, crossing for Morton to put the game well and truly to bed. With a 5-0 lead and the rain coming down, the temple of the game slowed with few decent chances.

And as the match drew to a close, Salisbury scored two further goals through Clarke and an expert finish from Renshaw, who said afterwards: "Delighted with the way we took the game to them, our high press caused them problems.

"Credit to the lads, especially the forward line, for bouncing back after last week."

Salisbury are at home to Southampton University on Saturday.