Louis Moore
After a grueling trek to Cornwall ended in disaster for Salisbury on Wednesday night, the Whites now turn their attention to their final game of the season as they face league leaders and now champions of the Southern Premiership, Weston-super-Mare.
The seagulls claimed themselves the league title on Tuesday as they battled to a 4-1 win over Hendon.
Salisbury, however, have been much without the glory this season and sit at 14th in the table.
A win today can see them climb only one league position over Dorchester, but for that they must hope firstly, they can beat the champions and secondly, the Magpies don’t pick up any points on their travels.
Looking beneath them, both Hanwell Town and Winchester City can leapfrog Salisbury which would leave the whites in a non-convincing 16th place.
However, with nothing to play for for either team, young experimental sides will most likely be the case in today’s fixture, something that manager Brian Dutton isn’t afraid of anyway.
With a damming 4-0 defeat on the road on Wednesday, however, Dutton is already looking to the future and had some stern words for his current side:
“I’m just happy that it’s boxed off now, there’s one more to go and then we get down to the serious work of bringing proper footballers to the club who are going to give their all for the football club.
“But like I keep saying, we can’t wait for this season to end and get down to work for the next.
“Players we’ve bought to the football club have given their all, but unfortunately they haven’t stepped up to the mark.
“A lot of young loanee players, it’s very difficult for them and they haven’t been able to step up.
“Cal and I are working tirelessly in the background, out watching matches every other night, making sure the recruitments spot on for next season
“It’s a bit of a pulling teeth season at the moment and I can’t wait to put a line through it.”
There will also be a familiar face returning to the Ray Mac on Saturday as former player Scott Bartlett is now the manager of Weston-super-Mare and will bring his side to his old stomping ground:
“Scotty’s played a lot of games for Salisbury football club and it’s a magnificent achievement what they’ve (Weston-super-Mare) done.
“We’ll obviously respect them and wish them well, but there’s a professional element of the game.
“We’ve got to apply ourselves a lot better than we did tonight and try and give the fans something to cheer about.”
The last game of the season is always a busy one and if the Salisbury squad can show their dedication and desire toward the club, then perhaps more fans will walk through the Ray Mac turnstiles at the beginning of next season.
Andy Munns
