A SIMPLE finish from Will Alvis was enough to give Salisbury Men's Hockey firsts all three points against Haslemere seconds.

The striker met Mike Spice's penalty corner late on and tapped home to ensure the city side kept the pressure on leaders Gillingham in Hampshire Division 1.

Before the match winner descended on the Lower Bemerton pitch, Salisbury made a bright start as Rory MacTaggart set himself for a reverse stick shot from the top of the circle, which the Haslemere keeper stopped.

Another chance fell to MacTaggart after captain Andy Renshaw got to the by-line but his pull back could only go straight through the legs of the Salisbury forward.

As the hosts continued to miss opportunities, Haslemere began to get themselves back into the game, but Lewis Gunstone-Gray in the Salisbury goal was rarely called into action.

Frustrations grew from both sides as the umpire sent first Steve Booth then MacTaggart to the sin-bin, while Haslemere also collected a couple of cards.

But with 10 minutes left on the clock, the outcome was settled following good link-up play between Spice and Alvis, the latter making no mistake with a tap-in.

“It was an important win, we only, really, played well for the first 15 minutes but we should have been two or three up by half time," Renshaw reflected.

“We worked hard but it was a disappointing performance.

"We need to be getting the right players on the ball in the right areas on the pitch, we struggled to do that on Saturday."

Salisbury travel to second-from-bottom Southampton seconds on Saturday.