SALISBURY City halted a sequence of four defeats on the bounce thanks to a spirited fightback against Altrincham, which saw them score three times in the last 20 minutes to pick up a deserved point against the Blue Square Premier strugglers Manager Nick Holmes declared himself happy enough with a share of the spoils, but knows this was a game his side were more than capable of winning.

"I would think the supporters have gone away having been very entertained," said the City boss.

"The good thing was people should never doubt our fighting qualities, so I was pleased that came through.

"Theyre a bunch of triers - sometimes they're not strong enough in their minds maybe to beat people - they need a Tommy Widdrington out there to give them that strength, but to come back from 3-0 down in the last 20 minutes showed good bottle."

Holmes was forced to make changes in defence and in attack after striker Robbie Matthews and then skipper Aaron Cook were ruled out through illness or injury.

A Matt Tubbs goal was disallowed in the opening minute for a debatable offside decision and despite a number of promising attacks, Whites fell behind against the run of play, to a speculative long-range shot from James Dean before Jake Sedgemore doubled Altrincham's lead with a 37th minute spot kick.

The visitors made it 3-0 midway through the second half before Whites began an heroic comeback.

Holmes was angered at the defensive slips, which had seemingly put them out of contention.

"All we've got to do is ask why a lad is allowed to shoot from 30 yards without anyone near him? There's no way you should let a goal in from there.

"The second goal, again is so similar to last week's against Burton, Ryan's come out for a ball he doesn't have to come for and he's given a penalty away.

"Apart from that they didn't threaten too much - we were always the more likely - we had a goal disallowed in the first minute which was harsh and Tubbsy should have done better with the chance at the far post."

Holmes made a double substitution early in the second half, which eventually proved fruitful - Danny Clay and Luke Prince both making their presence felt.

"I think we had to change the personnel just to see if we could spark something. Although they scored again I did think that from the start of the second half we did look more urgent in our approach.

"They didn't hide, which was good - they all wanted the ball. Some of them were having poor games and even though some were moaning at them, they kept showing which was important."

Central defender Luke Oliver took up an attacking role as City attempted to get back into the game - and as well as scoring one of the goals, he played an integral part in pressurising the Altrincham defence - Marvin Brown netting either side of Oliver's goal.

"I must admit I'd thought about playing him upfront from the start in place of Robbie (Matthews) but with Aaron Cook failing a fitness test it made my mind up that I couldn't do that, so I went with the two smaller boys up front.

"Marvin did what Marvin does - he scores you goals. He doesn't have Matt Tubbs' work-rate around the frontline or around their defenders, but if you put the ball into the 18-yard box, he scores you goals."

10:45am Thursday 18th October 2007

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