HIGH-FLYING Salisbury Men's Hockey firsts endured a disastrous afternoon at University of Portsmouth on Saturday.

The Lower Bemerton outfit dropped on place down to fourth in Hampshire 1 following a 5-2 hammering.

It was an uphill struggle for the visitors who trailed 3-0 at half time after conceding soft goals.

A much-improved second half saw Jagjit Marwaha come agonisingly close to netting his first goal of the season.

However, the missed chance proved costly as Pompey added a fourth soon after, coupled with Salisbury's loss of Chris Pearl, who was sin-binned.

Leading scorer Tom Morton pulled one back from a penalty corner before Pompey added a fifth.

Morton then struck again but, by then, the outcome had been settled.

Skipper Andy Renshaw said: "It was a day we knew was always going to be difficult with the lack of defenders available.

"We made some shocking errors and were generally off the pace."