Rushden & Diamonds 2 Salisbury City 1

Salisbury could not stretch their unbeaten run to 12 games, going down to a disappointing Blue Square Premier defeat at Rushden & Diamonds.

Manager Nick Holmes said: "A couple of times near the end of the game we might have got an equaliser but, all in all, we didn't really turn up until about ten past four and by then we were two down.

"Every team has off days and today we were punished for an hour of pretty sloppy football, but nevertheless nearly got away with it.

"Our whole first-half performance was, in most departments, a little bit sub-standard to what we have been doing in the past few weeks, but for the last half-hour of the game it was pretty much all Salisbury.

"We had all the chances, but only took one of them and missed a couple more.

"You can only say well done to the boys for 30 minutes, but for the rest of the game they had to be better than they were.

"It's our first defeat in 12 and, if you could keep that sort of form going throughout the season, you know which end of the table we'd be at."

The Whites had nothing to show for early territorial dominance before, Diamonds took the lead on the half-hour, Chris Hope heading in at the far post from Andy Burgess' corner.

Eleven minutes later, Neil Cousins made it 2-0 when he followed-up after goalkeeper James Bittner could only parry Michael Rankine's effort.

It could have been 3-0 just before the break, but Hope headed over the top from close range.

With 15 minutes remaining, an Ian Herring long throw bounced obligingly for Matt Tubbs, who put a simple header over the top.

On 85 minutes, Djoumin Sangare pulled a goal back for Salisbury from close range but they could not find an equaliser to claim an unlikely point.