Report courtesy of Nuneaton News;
Nuneaton Town slumped to their first defeat of the season after conceding two goals in the last three minutes against Salisbury City.
Boro were sorely lacking in quality throughout, but they went ahead after 73 minutes through the league’s top scorer Louis Moult.
They looked set to win comfortably, but Gavin Cowan conceded a penalty and Ben Wright drilled it in with his first touch after 87 minutes.
Two minutes later Dan Fitchett pulled the ball back Elliott Frear smashed in an unlikely winner. The result means Cambridge return to the top of Skrill Premier with Boro second.
Manager Kevin Wilkin said: "Salisbury didn’t come to be expansive. They left one up top and what disappointed me was that we didn’t show any patience to unlock them.
"After 25 minutes we lost patience totally, put balls in the area and got frustrated. We had a guilt edged chance to go in front and (Connor Taylor) missed it.
"Even when we went 1-0 up I expected us to have enough maturity to see the game out and we’ve not shown that.
"They’ve been gifted a really soft penalty. I’d love to see it again on the DVD but we didn’t defend it well enough.
"The second goal was terrible. We lost understanding of what we need to do to see it out."
The first half was a scrappy affair despite Salisbury looking to play some football.
Boro on the other hand struggled to get any service into the front two. They did have the first and best chance of the half in the 13th minute.
A long ball was pumped into the box and James Armson did well to head it on.
Moult repeated the trick with another flick on into the path of Connor Taylor. He looked set to score from eight yards, but his header flashed just wide when he should have scored.
Moult was in the action two minutes later as his free kick from 25 yards was spilled by Will Puddy, but Boro could make nothing of the loose ball.
Belshaw was an assured presence before the break as he held Fitchett’s shot from the edge of the box well after a poor clearance from Cowan.
Salisbury were happy to test Belshaw from distance when Glenn Wilson shot from 30 yards, but the keeper held it well as it bounced in front of him.
Pritchett was doing well up front on his own and he forced Belshaw into another competent save from the edge of the box.
Boro’s only other chance of the half saw Moult come desperately close with a 20 yarder after Taylor did well drifting off his wing.
The Whites were the first to threaten after the break as Fitchett got one on one with Gaz Dean in the box, but the defender did magnificently to make the block.
The hosts were forced into a change after 54 minutes when Taylor limped off with Mark Bell coming on for his second appearance of the season.
There was really nothing in the game as Boro struggled desperately to put any quality into the box.
That was the case even as they took the lead after 73 minutes.
Armson was the ’architect’ as he picked the ball up in midfield and scuffed in a shot from 30 yards.
It fell perfectly for Moult just inside the area and he showed the composure of a man in form by bending the ball around Puddy and inside the post as Salisbury appealed in vain for offside.
The visitors made attacking changes but didn’t look like threatening.
That was until they levelled though as Cowan was all over Fitchett as they tussled over a clearance in the box.
There was stunned silence as the referee pointed to the spot, but he was certainly wrestling the player.
Wright had only been on the pitch for two minutes. However, he stayed cool and side footed it into the top corner after 87 minutes.
A draw would have been right, but Salisbury weren’t finished as they won it two minutes later.
Fitchett got free of Cowan from a throw in and pulled the back for Frear. He had a lot of work to do when he received it 14 yards out and took a touch and lashed the ball into the top corner.
Attendance: 1,355