SALISBURY are through to the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy after an excellent victory against Kings Langley.

The Whites, who are now unbeaten in their last nine games, put in a performance of many positives to win 2-1 against a side they failed to beat twice last season, despite having 10 men for the final half an hour.

Kings Langley started the better side, and number 9 Weiss in particular was causing Salisbury problems on the left-hand side.

Salisbury manager Steve Claridge would have been pleased to see his side survive the early passages of the game without conceding a goal, a problem his side have had frequently.

Captain Aaron Dawson was excellent in the middle of the park, as was Toby Holmes up front, who put his side into the lead just before the half hour mark.

Good work on the right-hand side from Hippolyte-Patrick, escaping the full back on the right-hand side and pulling it back to Holmes who made no mistake from around 10 yards out.

Salisbury continued to improve as the half went on. Sommerton, not in his customary left back position but further forward on the wing, was struggling, but almost set up Bentley for a second.

The Whites’ lead lasted about 10 minutes, with Mitchell Weiss – the visitor’s most potent attacking threat – getting his reward for his earlier good work. A lovely goal but with Benfield off his line, Weiss lifted the ball coolly over the keeper and into the back of the net.

Alex Lafleur was the victim of the Sommerton-on-the-wing-experiment, which didn’t go quite as Claridge would’ve hoped. Lafleur was replaced by Danny Young at half time, with Sommerton moving to left back and Young on the wing.

It turned out to be an excellent and positive substitution from Claridge, with both Sommerton and Young effective in their preferred positions.

Man-of-the-match Holmes got his second after a slice of good fortune.

A falling Aaron Dawson somehow managed to thread a pass through the sleeping Kings defence, and Holmes made no mistake in slotting the ball into the net.

Bay Downing received his second yellow card after 66 minutes, leaving the Whites with just under half an hour to defend with 10 men, which they did very well, moving to a 3-5-2 formation, Hippolyte-Patrick and Young acting as wing-backs in transition.

Kings Langley should’ve equalised with just seconds left on the clock, only for Ward to somehow put it wide from about a yard out. It seemed harder to miss.

Next up for Salisbury is Hayes and Yeading away next Saturday afternoon.