Alresford gave a debut to experienced midfielder Brian Howard. Undaunted by the big pitch, or the big occasion, Howard was soon spraying passes around from the middle of the park with his customary authority. But the Whites had more ace cards in their pack, and quickly got on top.

For the first twenty minutes the Alresford defence, minus injured lynch-pin Craig Bryant, held out. Salisbury threatened down the right through Dan Demkiv and overlapping full-back George Colson, while Sam Wilson was a thorn in the visitors’ side with his clever movement both on and off the ball.

The hosts took the lead on 23 minutes when a fine diagonal ball from midfield found Demkiv free approaching the right corner of the box. He took the ball in his stride and slotted it confidently beneath the diving John Howard.

Two minutes later Salisbury doubled their lead. This time there was a tinge of fortune about the goal; Demkiv’s shot took a big deflection, John Howard could only parry the ball, and Tom Whelan pounced on the rebound.

After that it was always a case of “how many?”. A 32nd-minute move featuring Demkiv and Colson was finished off by Wilson, who swept the ball home from just inside the box. A fourth goal followed on 36 minutes, Danny Young planting a thumping header into the net from Demkiv’s cross.

Alresford did their best, and came within inches of pulling a goal back five minutes before the break when Jamie Bentley at the far post headed onto the crossbar from a Sam Carter free-kick.

In the second half the Magpies played some good football. But they were powerless to prevent Wilson scoring his second on 49 minutes. The livewire striker seized on the ball after Adam Carrick had tried to head it away, and swivelled to fire home from a tight angle.

Knowing the game was well won, Salisbury eased off a little. The Magpies hit the crossbar a second time on 61 minutes with a Brian Howard curler after a cunning turn and pass by Tom Riddell had made him the space. But on 78 minutes Salisbury completed their six-pack, and Wilson his hat-trick, with a penalty kick after the referee had spotted some shirt-pulling in the penalty area.

It was a convincing result, but if Alresford can reproduce their second-half football regularly they can look forward to the rest of the season with at least a little bit of confidence.

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