IT WAS a case of 'lovely bubbly' for Eastleigh manager Paul Doswell at Tonbridge Angels on Saturday.
Not only did his team make sure of a fourth-placed Dr Martens Eastern Division finish by beating the former league leaders 2-0, but star striker Paul Sales failed to get his name on the scoresheet.
Sales, top of the Eastern Division scoring charts with 29 goals, has been promised a crate of champagne by his Sparshatts Stadium boss if he reaches the magical 30 mark.
He had his chances on Saturday - four of them, in fact - but, unusually for the former Bashley and Salisbury striker, his finishing left a lot to be desired.
Doswell smiled: "Paul squandered four chances before we scored - and, by that, I mean clear-cut one-on-ones which he missed from six yards!"
The 30-year-old Southampton-based striker has one last chance to make it a champagne finish to the season at home to Rothwell Town next Saturday and Doswell laughed: "If he doesn't get another goal, the deal is that he's got to buy me a bottle of bubbly." For the second game running, Eastleigh deployed Danny Woods as a holding player with Tyronne Bowers, Christer Warren and Neil Davis given more fluid midfield roles.
Again it worked a treat and, with Chris Collins outstanding at the back, Tonbridge barely got a look-in.
Martin Beck, on as a half-time substitute for Bowers, coolly drew the keeper and broke the deadlock on the hour and Woods - now nicknamed 'Keano after' Man United's midfield hardman Roy Keane - toe-poked a second through the legs of the keeper with just a couple of minutes remaining.
"It was a rubbish finish by Woodsy but it was nice for him to score after the awful season he's had with injury," said Doswell.
"You can't help but sit there and wonder what might have been if we'd had him available for the whole season, but I'm really proud of the players for finishing fourth."
Manager Nick Holmes described Salisbury's 1-0 defeat at Sittingbourne as "disgraceful."
But it was a playing surface he described as rock hard, dusty and bumpy around the edges - but flooded in places in the middle - that suffered most of his wrath.
He also took the time to make a hasty apology to Whites' travelling supporters.
Assistant manager Tommy Killick added: "We thought we knew the players but perhaps we don't know them at all.
"Things will change. We can only hope that the eleven that take the field next Saturday show a lot more for the supporters."
A changed Whites side offered no first-half threat on the home goal and Jamie Coyle struck a 25-yard free kick past Aaron Hedges on 19 minutes for what proved the only goal of the game.
Wayne Turk and Scott Bartlett joined the action on the break and Salisbury showed improvement in the second half but Adam Wallace missed an easy near-post header from a Craig Davis on 51 minutes.
Leigh Phillips came on as a third striker when he replaced defender Tim Bond ten minutes later but again it was Wallace who could have scored on 65 minutes, carelessly screwing his effort wide with only the keeper to beat.
Hedges saved Whites further embarrassment when he made a good one-on-one stop.
Goals by Neil Kennedy (3), Neil Andrews and Steve Holden sentenced bottom club Fleet Town to 5-1 defeat at title-chasing Histon. Shaun Hale bagged the visitors' late reply.
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