SALISBURY continued their pre-season preparations with a 3-2 defeat against Premier League Brentford's B team at the Ray Mac.

Neil MacFarlane's Bees utilised the opportunity to field a host of trialists throughout the contest, while for Steve Claridge's side, it was their second of eight scheduled friendlies ahead of the Southern League Premier South campaign.

Brentford, who have forged a good recent relationship with Salisbury since signing Dom Jefferies from them last summer, made a strong start with the Whites' goal living a charmed life.

And the visitors took the lead when pressure from one of the Bees' trialists saw him win the ball back high up the pitch, before cutting it back for a fellow trialist to slot home.

But Salisbury equalised when a long ball found Ben Thomson, who swivelled and smashed a brilliant half volley past goalkeeper Ben Winterbottom.

Brentford's Max Wilcox then struck the crossbar, before the Bees moved 2-1 ahead when Nico Jones won the ball and presented it to skipper and Republic of Ireland under-21 international Alex Gilbert, who finished well.

Lewis Gunstone-Gray made a smart double save to ensure the deficit remained at one goal heading into the break.

And that allowed Salisbury to equalise, defender Sam Roberts heading home from a corner.

But the Wiltshire outfit fell behind for a third time with 20 minutes to play, with another Brentford trialist firing in from a tight angle.

Salisbury host Havant & Waterlooville on Saturday (3pm).

Salisbury: Gunstone-Grey, Davis, Diaz, Wakefield, Roberts, Gillela, Arnold, Mullings, Thomson, Ashton, Goodship.

Subs: Cooper, Holmes, Roocroft, O'Callaghan, Penny, Fox.