SALISBURY City breathed sighs of relief all round after easing their league worries with a 3-2 win at Tonbridge Angels last night.

Having dropped two points at home to Heybridge on Saturday, Barry Blankley's men badly needed a victory in the second of a run of four crucial games against fellow strugglers.

Whites made hard work of it, but it was Blankley's former Bashley skipper Craig Davis who came up trumps with the 64th-minute winner after Tonbridge had clawed their way back from two goals down.

With Robbie Matthews rested on the bench, Blankley opted for Leigh Phillips to partner Adam Wallace up front.

And it was ex-Saint Wallace who put clear daylight between the teams with two goals in eight minutes midway through the first half.

First he cleverly jinked the ball over a defender before belting a shot in off the underside of the bar on 22 minutes. Then as the half-hour ticked by, he ran from a suspiciously offside position to coolly bury his second.

But for Brendon Cass's poor finishing, Tonbridge might have been two goals up early on, but they finally found the target with a scrambled Luke Piscina effort on 36 minutes.

Angels' second was an own goal by Aaron Cook on the hour but, four minutes later, Davis lifted City's spirits again with a well-struck free-kick.

City had to defend against a string of free-kicks in the last half-hour, but keeper Kevin Sawyer's handling was superb.

Blankley said: "Tonight was a real morale boost after Saturday. We didn't play particularly good football, but we ground out a result.

"When we went in 2-1 up at half-time I said it was important to go back out and be professional and keep a clean sheet. Unfortunately Aaron got an own goal, but I was pleased with the way we came back.

"Everyone stood up individually and collectively and it's always a much better trip home when you've got three points."