TWO serious injuries marred a disappointing afternoon for Salisbury Hockey Club as they were mathematically eliminated from the promotion race after being defeated by Haslemere 7-3.

Talented teenager Nick Easterbrook suffered a facial injury before tough-tackling defender Alex Rennie broke his hand.

Both were taken to hospital as Salisbury’s 10-match unbeaten streak ended at the hands of the leaders.

Salisbury started brightly with skipper Rory MacTaggart striking home a fine reverse stick finish to give the visitors a lead. But disaster came after just ten minutes when midfield lynchpin Easterbrook was struck in the nose – which left the 16-year-old requiring hospital treatment.

The hole Easterbrook left behind was quickly exploited as Haslemere showed excellent attacking movement to score twice – justifying their lofty league status.

But just as Salisbury started to recover and get back in the game, the injury curse struck again.

Defender Rennie broke his left hand in a tackle leaving the visitors’ already depleted squad threadbare.

However, before half time they were able to score again to deservedly level the scores.

In the second half, the strength in depth of the league-leaders began to show as they exploited a tiring Salisbury defence who had already started the game without centre backs Damian Paterson and Mike Spice.

Despite putting on a brief comeback in which MacTaggart completed his hat-trick, Haslemere clinically finished off the visitors, securing their promotion in the process.

  • Following last week’s hard-fought point at Basingstoke Vikings, Salisbury fourths went one better on Saturday with a 2-1 win at home to Alton thirds. David Hillier scored twice.