Newport IoW player-manager Steve Tate has always maintained the Islanders are way too good to be embroiled in a relegation dogfight.

And who'd dare argue with him after Saturday's momentous 3-1 result away to a King's Lynn side, who had won their previous five games?

The Linnets had been developing into such a formidable force that their boss Peter Morris was named the Eastern Division's manager-of-the-month for November.

But Newport, who started the day third from bottom, showed no respect for reputations as goals by Ashley Wright, Jamie O'Rourke and Danny Rofe brought the 'in-form' Norfolk side to their knees, lifting the Islanders three places to 17th.

"Everyone looks at our position and thinks it's going to be a doddle against us, but we played King's Lynn off the park," Tate declared.

"I knew I had the players who could go out and win games and they've done me proud. When we were losing I had a lot of people phoning me up to take the mickey, but suddenly my phone's gone quiet and that's quite nice.

"That's five games out of six we've won now. It's just a shame they haven't all come in the same month otherwise I might have been celebrating my first manager-of-the-month award!"

Newport strung together half a dozen passes before Wright broke free to fire them ahead in the 40th minute. And with half-time approaching Wright turned provider, heading on for fellow Island lad O'Rourke to make it 2-0.

Chris Bacon halved the deficit with a long-range cracker, but there was no holding the visitors as keeper Dean Greygoose misread the flight of a corner and Danny Rofe rose at the far post to head in number three.

Salisbury discovered a ruthless streak to stay top of the Eastern Division pile with a satisfying 4-0 win at Corby.

Manager Nick Holmes had been critical of his side in the past for not finishing off the opposition, but he had no grounds for complaint this time.

The Whites overcame an awful surface and wintery weather to effectively kill the game off within the first half-hour and ex-Saint Holmes acknowledged: "Our performance was very professional. We kept a clean sheet and avoided injuries or further bookings. We're top of the league and I'll be even happier if we're still there at the end of this week."

Whites survived a first-minute scare when keeper Kevin Sawyer touched Alan Campbell's goalbound effort over, but three Salisbury goals in 26 minutes ensured it was no contest.

After six minutes Adam Wallace netted in a one-on-one and five minutes later Stuart Brown headed in Salisbury's second.

A 26th-minute third from Matt Davies was the prelude to a less intense spell from the Whites, but Wayne Turk's sizzling 81st-minute strike crowned a satisfying afternoon's work.

Bashley remain fourth, just three points adrift of Holmes' table-toppers, after a priceless 2-0 victory at Spalding.

With all the other top sides winning, it was essential the Foresters returned home with maximum points to stay up among the leading pack.

The loss of Stuart Hussey, who was stretchered with suspected knee ligament damage, was an early blow to the Bashley cause.

But it was his replacement, Graeme Gee, who made the 42nd-minute breakthrough, beating a couple of defenders on the edge of the box before shooting low to the keeper's right.

It was the least Bash deserved having had Paul Sales and Craig Anstey denied by goalline clearances and the visitors continued to dominate after the break.

For once, fit-again Sales didn't get his name on the scoresheet, but he played a key role in Bashley's 82nd-minute second, challenging the goalkeeper and flicking on Darren Robson's corner for Danny Gibbons to score.

Bashley only drew 1-1 with struggling Spalding on their own territory and manager Barry Blankley recalled: "We should have scored eight that day and the lads remembered that, so this was pay-back time!

"After Erith away next week, we've got some big games coming up against other top sides like Banbury, Dorchester and Salisbury which will have a big bearing on the league.

"That's why it was so important for us to get all three points and keep in touch."

Bashley yesterday sold out-of-favour midfielder/striker Ben Thomson to Wessex title-chasers Totton for an undisclosed fee.

Fleet Town remain marooned four points adrift at the foot of the table after a 4-0 pasting at Histon. Andrews, Coburn, Rowe and Tovey piled on the misery for the north Hampshire side.