CHUFFED chairman Roger Sherwood hailed Eastleigh's 4-0 slaying of Salisbury last night: "Without doubt our best performance of the season."

After watching former Whites favourite Paul Sales torment his old club in front of a bumper 554 crowd at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium, Sherwood said: "We were outstanding.

"Salisbury's pitch was superb, which suited us because we were able to play football.

"There wasn't a player in our side who didn't have a good game. The boys are buzzing and team spirit is brilliant."

With the top three of Histon, Tonbridge and King's Lynn all winning, it was vital that Eastleigh kept the pressure on in fourth place.

They did so spurred on by a sublime 19th-minute opener, which saw Sales loop the ball over the top of Salisbury's defence and David Hughes meet it with a belter of a volley across keeper Kevin Sawyer.

A loose pass by Gary Funnell invited Nicky Banger to run on for a well-taken second in the 38th minute and it was another ex-Salisbury player, Tyronne Bowers, who cracked in Eastleigh's 84th-minute third after going on as a substitute.

Michael Cooper's late foul on Martin Beck summed up Salisbury's frustration and Sales cashed in by converting the 90th-minute penalty.

Holidaying Eastleigh manager Paul Doswell missed the game and Sherwood joked: "Dozzy's been on the phone from Spain. I told him to stay out there for another month!"