STAND-IN captain Josh Green cashed in on two tries and Tom Lane added the extras as Salisbury RFC put Swindon to the sword.

It was a much-needed 20-12 victory for Green and Whites which restored promotion hope from South West 1 (East).

Salisbury’s forwards had the better of the Swindon pack but when the visitors got the ball to their backs they always looked dangerous.

And the hosts, with the wind in their sails, took a 13-5 lead into the interval thanks to Lane hitting double penalties and adding the extras to a Josh Green try. Swindon replied with a try themselves.

Early in the second half, the visitors came back into the game with a well-taken try and conversion to come within one point of Dan Jeffries’ men. The game could have swayed either way but it was Salisbury who found the resilience to hold out a concerted spell of pressure.

Another Green try, converted by Lane, finally gave the crowd something to cheer about as the home team ran out winners to cement second place in the league rankings.

“Saturday was a great result with eight starters injured or unavailable, including captain Liam Gilbert,” said Jeffries, whose side have no game on Saturday. “Josh Green stepped up as captain and put in a real leader’s performance with two tries.

The depth in the squad was really highlighted as the boys dug deep to get an important result against a strong Swindon side.”

The fourths were also at home where they pulled off a fantastic comeback from 5-29 down at half-time to win 34-29 against Weymouth & Portland 2nds.