Bashley boss Barry Blankley watched his side fail to get the three points they deserved against Spalding before admitting: "Lady Luck wasn't on our side."

Craig Davis gave the home side the lead, heading in an excellent Mark Lisk cross at the far post on 50 minutes.

But, five minutes later, Spalding equalised when a Paul Goodhand free-kick beat goalkeeper David Elm at his near post.

Despite relentless pressure, Bashley failed to find the winner.

Richard Gillespie was behind many of the Bashley attacks. The 17-year-old hit the bar and the post before producing an overhead kick which was cleared off the line.

Danny Gibbons and Andy Darnton had earlier seen headers cleared off the line

And Blankley said: "If the score had been 6-1 it would have been a fair result. Hitting the woodwork so many times and having several other efforts cleared off the line defied belief.

"It was very disappointing. It's two points dropped but they came for one, they only played with one up front, which made it very difficult for us.

"There's no doubt that we deserved it. Their manager is Alan Biley, the former Portsmouth player, and he was understandably delighted with that result."

Newport IOW remain bottom of the table after going down to a first-half strike from Wade Falana at Tonbridge.

Falana had made a hash of his first chance after being put through by Paul Emblen, the former Wycombe player, but he clipped the ball over Newport 'keeper Joe McCormack for the only goal of the game on 19 minutes.

Gareth Keeping was denied by the home side's 'keeper and Danny Rofe headed a close-range header wide, while Jamie O'Rourke had a great chance to equalise on 73 minutes, only to delay his shot, allowing Scott Saunders to make a last-ditch tackle.

Jesse Bone took charge of the Fleet side again in the absence of Mark Dennis and Adie Aymes, who were fulfilling a prior engagement - a golf trip to Spain for Hampshire Cricket beneficiary Shaun Udal.

But it was the same old story on the pitch as Fleet lost 2-0 at home to Rothwell despite the best efforts of goalkeeper Simon Arthur and a battling second-half performance.

Jason Turner volleyed the visitors into the lead on 32 minutes and, four minutes later, Jamie Kearns doubled Rothwell's advantage with another 20-yard strike.

Fleet had a better time of it after the break but could not break down fourth-placed Rothwell's rearguard.

Stuart Findlay had one of Fleet's better chances in the second half but headed a Paul Dadson cross over the bar.

Bone said: "We gave away two sloppy goals but in the second half we didn't let them play. We were missing eight senior players and, until we get some of them back, we're going to be struggling every week.

"We really need some strength in depth but the good news is that we might have some more players available for our cup game against Eastbourne Borough tomorrow."

Salisbury manager Nick Holmes was pleased with another three points following Whites' 2-0 success at Chatham - but was not happy with his team's performance.

"In the first half, we were more than adequate but then we sat back and gave them too much respect. Our second-half performance was not good enough but, having had a string of good results, we probably thought it was going to be easy.

"Having said that, our second goal was probably the best we have scored this season," reflected the former Saint.

Earlier, Salisbury goalkeeper Kevin Sawyer spared the Whites' blushes with brilliant saves from a Gary Tilley piledriver and a Dave Montieth free-kick.

But a high-class individual strike from Wayne Turk gave the Whites a 31st-minute lead. He outstripped the home defence before rifling a shot low into the Chatham net.

Matt Davies bagged Salisbury's second on 71 minutes after a lightning build-up between Ryan King and Adam Wallace set him up for a top-corner finish.

As the Whites relaxed again, Sawyer's acrobatics were again needed to preserve the points and a third successive clean sheet.