Eastleigh 3 - Salisbury 0

THREE goals, eleven bookings and a red card for Salisbury's ex-Eastleigh striker Robbie Matthews made for a passionate Ryman Premier derby at the Sparshatts Stadium last night.

The stakes were high with Eastleigh needing victory to boost their play-off hopes and Salisbury scrapping for survival.

But, in home manager Paul Doswell's view, the relegation-threatened visitors were a little too wound up for a ding-dong derby watched by a season's best 702 crowd.

"I was disappointed with the nature of the game," Doswell admitted after his team's 3-0 success. "It was a bit harsh that Robbie Matthews got sent off, but Salisbury set their stall out to make it that type of game.

"I think Nick and Barry (Salisbury boss Nick Holmes and assistant Barry Blankley) had fed them red meat beforehand and I don't blame them for that, but they could have played a bit more football.

"Derbies like this are too parochial. That's why I'm glad to be out of the Wessex."

In an incident-packed opening, Eastleigh keeper Wayne Shaw escaped a suspicion of handball outside the area before the first sparks flew on 14 minutes when Eastleigh's Martin Thowas was booked for a late tackle and City's Shaun Hale for hurling him to the ground in retaliation.

Having made an excellent fourth-minute block to deny Tyronne Bowers, Salisbury keeper Kevin Sawyer saved well again from Ryan Ashford before the visitors had their best chance of the game.

Matthews - clearly desperate to impress against his old club - had a 32nd-minute header cleared off the line and hooked the follow-up onto the bar.

He and Shaw then had a needless confrontation, earning them an entry in Liphook referee James Evamy's notebook. By half-time, they'd been joined by Eastleigh striker Andy Forbes for a clumsy tackle on Scott Bartlett and City's Glenn Howes for a stoppage-time foul on Danny Smith.

Howes' offence was right on the edge of the Salisbury area, from where Ashford's low free-kick beat Sawyer way too easily, giving the ex-Saint his third goal in two games.

The second half belonged to ex-Salisbury crowd favourite Bowers, who followed up his man-of-the-match performance against Staines on Saturday by punishing his old club with two goals.

Just seconds after the restart, he capitalised on hesitancy by defender Scott Bartlett to tuck away a Forbes delivery, then six minutes from time he did a celebratory somersault after scampering in behind City's defence and cracking home a fierce, angled shot.

But for a world-class save by Sawyer, the damage would have been greater. On 58 minutes, Bowers's rasping right-wing cross was met by a glancing Forbes header that looked a certain goal. But, somehow, Sawyer got a hand to it - a save opposite number Shaw hailed as "Gordon Banks-like."

Salisbury's Bartlett and Wayne Turk and Eastleigh's David Hughes and Ashford all saw yellow in the second half, along with the luckless Matthews, who got his second caution for a 73rd-minute foul on new signing Alex Haddow.

"The referee was wrong to book Robbie for that," said Salisbury boss Holmes. "It was one of the most innocuous challenges I'd seen all night."

Asked if Salisbury were over-physical, Holmes said: "There was no quarter asked or given by either side. It was a derby and were we any more physical than Eastleigh? I don't think so.

"It was a bit of an unjust result. There were a couple of early decisions, like Wayne's handball outside the area that could have gone our way."

EASTLEIGH: Wayne Shaw, Danny Rofe, Ryan Ashford, Martin Thomas, Chris Collins, Rob Marshall, Danny Smith, David Hughes (Alex Haddow,69), Craig McAllister (Paul Sales, 83), Andy Forbes, Tyronne Bowers. Subs: (not used) Mark Blake, James Stokoe, Lee Webber. SALISBURY CITY: Kevin Sawyer, Mat Davies, Scott Bartlett (Matt Tubbs, 77), Aaron Cook, Tim Bond, Glenn Howes (Matt Holmes, 46), Wayne Turk, Craig Davis, Adam Wallace, Robbie Matthews, Shaun Hale (Adam Heath, 87). Subs: (not used) Leigh Phillips, Josh Thomas.