NICK HOLMES may possess more class in his Salisbury side than his ex-Saints buddy Mark Dennis has at Fleet right now, but he reckons he is lacking in the key ingredient of passion.

If, as seems likely, the Whites ag-onisingly miss out in a tight Eastern Division promotion battle, Holmes will no doubt contemplate what might have been had his sometimes passive players carried some extra oomph.

Not for the first time this season, Salisbury needed a half-time kick up the backside to spur them on to a 2-0 victory at Calthorpe Park courtesy of a Steve Strong header and a left-foot cracker from skipper Scott Bartlett.

Holmes was glad of the points on an afternoon which saw the top three of Eastbourne, Dorchester and Stamford all triumph, but he reflected afterwards: "We made hard work of it and should have scored more.

"Fleet can take a lot of pride from their performance. All I heard in the first half were the blue shirts (Fleet's) saying things, while the yellows were dead quiet. My players are typical of the modern era. They're too laid back and don't show their emotions enough.

"You can see on their faces sometimes that it does mean something to them, but we need to find one or two who show it in other ways.

"We're going to have to play better than that if we're going to beat Bashley on Monday (today, 3pm)."

Leigh Phillips's early appearance as a 34th-minute sub for ineffective frontman Stuart Brown was about injecting some missing passion into the side.

The ex-Lymington & New Milton goal-getter is not the fittest, but he oozes heart and Holmes said: "That's one of the reasons we took a chance on Leigh. If he had an extra yard of pace he would easily be one of the best strikers in this league. I'd love to have got hold of him a few years ago and trained him a bit better."

It was Phillips' ex-Lymington team-mate Strong who finally penetrated the defences of a below-strength Fleet side stripped of ten first-team regulars by injury, suspension and a flu outbreak.

Adam Wallace worked his magic on the right and swung in a cross to the far post where Strong's header was too hot for Carl Clayton to keep out.

Eight minutes later skipper Bartlett made it safe, showing some deft footwork on the right of the area and letting fly with a left-foot cracker high into the net.

Tyronne Bowers later clattered the crossbar as Salisbury created chance after chance attacking down the notorious Calthorpe Park slope.

But in the first half they had struggled at the receiving end of the steep gradient and looked anything but happy on a hard, bumpy pitch.

After Fleet's Mike Regan had hoofed Roger Emms' 15th minute glancing header off the line, it was the home side - now mathematically assured of safety after Spalding's draw with Corby - who began to take control.

Salisbury had a massive let-off in the 25th minute as Steele Saunders came within inches of latching on to a Ryan Luffman shot from the right which whistled wickedly across the goal.

Three minutes later Saunders burst clear and stung Sawyer's fingers with a ferocious, low strike his suspended and highly talented brother Shea would have been proud of.

The half-time withdrawal of ex- Wim-bledon striker Luffman with groin trouble blunted Fleet's attack and Dennis, co-boss with ex-Hampshire cricketer Adi Aymes, reflected: "If we'd had a full side out, I think we'd have won quite comfortably.

"Salisbury keep the ball well, knock it around nicely and play the game the right way, but I don't think their commitment's as good.

"We made it really tough for them, but in the last 20 minutes their class shone through which you'd expect from a side challenging for promotion.

"I hope they get it. We should've been two up by half-time, but if there's one bloke I don't minute losing to it's Nick."

Fleet were not losers on all fronts. The gate, swelled by a large and vocal Salisbury contingent, was a season's best 287 and Dennis wants more of the same next season.

He said: "We've got some decent friendlies lined up against Woking, Luton and Southampton already and Adi and I have had a word with the chairman about getting the pitch relaid and having a decent budget.

"We want to be in mid-table or challenging and we've got to pull together to make that happen. If we can't, then it's not worth being in this league."

Holmes is banking on his old Dell pal to do him a favour today when Fleet visit second-placed Dorchester. They will be looking to equal or better February's 0-0 home draw against the high-flying Magpies.