Salisbury's clinical first-half display was enough to see them through to the Wiltshire FA Premier Shield semi-final despite a spirited comeback from Melksham Town.
Salisbury led five-nil at halftime thanks to goals from Aiden Elliott Wheeler, Lewis Brown, Dan Fitchett, Noah Coppin and Ronan Silva. After the interval, Melksham fought back, scoring three of their own, but Salisbury were able to see the game out.
Brian Dutton made several changes to the starting line, including giving two players debuts and saw the first start of Dan Fitchett's new spell with the club. Both new loan signings, Lewis Brown and goalkeeper Rhys Byrne started alongside the returning Fitchett.
Aiden Elliott-Wheeler opened the scoring midway through the first half when he got free down the right and slotted low past the 'keeper with 22 minutes on the clock.
Just two minutes later, Lewis Brown scored on his debut after good work in the box by Ronan Silva, who teed up Brown, who cooly finished into the top right-hand corner.
In the 27th minute, Dan Fitchett marked his return to the club with a goal, getting on the end of a good cross from Elliott-Wheeler to apply the finish.
Salisbury continued their ruthless finishing when Elliott-Wheeler broke free from defending a corner and slid the ball forward for Silva to race on to. He slid the ball sideways to Noah Coppin, who duly made it four in the 34th minute.
Ronan Silva added to his three assists by getting on the score sheet; he reacted best when an Owen Dore corner dropped in the box, with Silva stabbing the ball home from close range right at the end of the half.
At the start of the second half, the host started strongly with Theo Lynden grabbing their first goal of the evening with 11 minutes gone in the second half.
Melksham were piling on the pressure and grabbed a second from the spot when Jake Andrews slotted cooly past Byrne just on the hour mark.
It was Jake Andrews again, who added nerves to the last 10 minutes when he grabbed his second and Melksham's third in the 80th minute.
There was a flash point in the 95th minute when Theo Lynden stamped on Noah Coppin whilst he was on the floor, the referee showed him a straight red after a gaggle of players took their frustrations out on each other and Canice Carroll was shown a yellow card for his reaction.
The game ended with no further goals, with Salisbury progressing to face local rivals Bemerton Heath Harlequins in the semi-final, scheduled to take place in Chippenham on Tuesday, 4th February, with kick-off at 7:45 pm.
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