Hayes & Yeading returned from a first ever League visit to Salisbury FC with a point which combined with Farnborough losing puts Paul Hughes’ side two points behind the leaders with a crucial game in hand although both Met Police and Taunton Town are in close attendance behind us as the season heads towards what could be a thrilling conclusion. Both sides took a while to size each other up with the biggest threat coming from a Jack Connors long throw-in that caused some consternation for the hosts in their box before any danger was cleared. Shortly after, around the 12 minute mark, Amos Nasha was pulled down on the edge of the Salisbury area, Kadell Daniel whipped the kick into the danger zone and found Charlie Wassmer who saw his shot well tipped over by Marcus Beauchamp in the hosts goal. The hosts started to get some possession together but the end result was somewhat wayward as the game entered a period of stop-start with more whistles than a steam train constantly stopping play. Just before the half hour mark a heavy challenge on ‘keeper Ravan Constable saw the United man forced to leave the field with a head injury as he was replaced by Jack Smith who had kept a clean sheet in the previous victory at Harrow Borough a few days previous. As we approached half time, very little was created at either end with the game falling into a stalemate situation with both defences very much in control of proceedings and after a scrappy 45 minutes the two teams went in at the break scoreless. We were almost at the hour mark with little to excite when a rasping drive from the hosts required a fine save from Smith to keep the game on an even keel. United threw top scorer Moses Emmanuel into the fray however within a minute the home side were ahead, Antonio Diaz firing home from the edge of the box. The lead lasted just two minutes however as that man Emmanuel was on cue once again as the United striker slotted home number 29 for the season despite coming under a heavy challenge in the process of shooting, and we were back all square at 1-1. United now started to push having reverted to our more familiar formation, Elis Watts and Marcel Elva-Fountaine combined well on the right side with the former forcing a diving save from Beauchamp. With just a couple of minutes to play a melee in the hosts box saw Omar Rowe end up on the floor with referee Ablitt showing a straight red card to Salisbury striker Dan Fitchett for the incident. With only a few minutes with the extra man, there was not enough time for United to take advantage although the hosts did require a last ditch block in stoppage time to deny United a winner. Report by Kevin Watts.