PROMOTION-HUNGRY Salisbury City are going to have to soldier on without top scorer Matt Tubbs for another two to three weeks.

A knee injury dating back to Whites' FA Cup exit at Merthyr Tydfil in October has returned to haunt the former Bolton Academy striker, who has sat out the last two league games.

"Tubbsy has battled on throughout the season with this problem, but it's finally caught up with him," explained manager Nick Holmes. "You've got to give him a lot of credit for his determination to keep going.

"He's due a scan on the knee and hopefully it won't find too many problems. We're not really sure what's wrong, but he won't be around for the next two or three weeks."

In Tubbs's absence, Holmes successfully paired former Eastleigh winger Alex Haddow up front with Paul Sales on Tuesday night as Whites put their recent bad run behind them with a 5-2 win at Cirencester.

It puts them second in the table, a point behind new leaders Bath City with three games in hand.

Haddow scored one goal and made another, underlining the depth and adaptability of the City squad.

Holmes said: "We've got to get on with what we've got and if I have to move people around like I did on Tuesday, then so be it.

"And if Alex Haddow plays like he did on Tuesday, then it's going to make Tubbsy's absence a lot easier to bear."

After two uncharacteristic home stumbles against Banbury and Halesowen, Whites owe their fans a performance against Mangotsfield United tomorrow.

"It'll be a big test," said Holmes. "If we play like we did at Cirencester we look a decent side, but if we play the way we did against Halesowen last week then we do have worries.

"But I'd like to think that the bad run that lasted three games is over."

Defender Tim Bond has picked up a hamstring injury, but he is suspended tomorrow in any case.