SALISBURY achieved their goal of staying in South West 2 division with a resounding victory over fellow strugglers High Wycombe on Saturday, writes Stuart McArdell.

But even after the final whistle had blown, anxious players and officials stayed on the pitch waiting for the results from the games involving relegation-threatened rivals Wimborne and Stow-on-the-Wold that would decide their fate.

First came the news that Wimborne had won - followed by details of Windsor's seven-point victory which sentenced Stow to relegation instead of Salisbury - albeit on points difference.

The cheers from Salis-bury's travelling supporters rang out and the team relaxed in anticipation of the night's celebrations.

The game itself had started in electrifying style with a Salisbury try inside two minutes.

Wycombe's poor kick-off gave Salisbury a mid-field scrum and Marcus Olsen whipped the ball across to Tim Shipsey. The winger raced into the 22 before being tackled and Olsen was on hand to finish the move with a dive for the line.

With Wycombe in disarray, Salisbury then squandered two good scoring opportunities before being pushed back into their own half. But Wycombe were dominating the rucks and Olsen was taking a beating from their loose forwards.

Securing a line out on Salisbury's 22, Wycombe's first attack of the game saw centre Kieran Mann chip over Salisbury's flat defence and win the race to touch down for a try converted by John Smith.

Salisbury forced their way down field and won a line out on Wycombe's 22. Olsen made a darting run before releasing his backs and full back Tom Pottage was on hand to crash through two defenders and touch down by the left flag.

Five minutes later Salis-bury 's aggressive midfield tackling turned over a Wycombe ball. With two men to beat, Shipsey chipped through and lock Liam Gilbert dived on the bobbling ball to score their third try which skipper Dave Bell converted.

Nick Stallard, back to his best form, took a crash ball pass to the edge of Wycombe's 22 and somehow emerged from the ruck to take an inside pass from stand off Penry to make the try.

At 22-7, Salisbury should have been secure, but at this stage most of the attacking work was being done by the three-quarters while the forwards were struggling for supremacy.

This allowed Wycombe's pack to drive a maul deep into Salisbury's 22 before their backs split Salisbury's defence with a classic scissors move with their full back Jason Taylor coming into the line to score.

Again Smith converted and as half time blew, Salisbury's hold on the game was looking fragile.

The club's director of rugby Richard Larcombe used the break to demand forward presence at rucks and the second half saw a vastly improved performance from the pack.

Liam Gilbert sliced through centre field to set up a ruck. The ball went to Bell who weaved his way through the defence to give his team a converted try.

Almost from the kick off, Salisbury attacked through their increasingly dominant three's. A long pass found Pottage steaming up on the wing and the youngster rounded the defence to score.

But the game was far from one sided and Wycombe sternly tested Salisbury's defence with a series of forward charges on their try line.

With route one blocked, Wycombe swung the ball wide and a try seemed inevitable until a bone jarring tackle from Bell up-ended the ball carrier. Stall-ard ripped the ball free and ran the length of the pitch to take Salisbury to 41-14.

Olsen, now recovered from his first half mauling, then ran up the wing and threw a perfect overhead pass to Penry who found Stefan Kruger. The speedy winger jinked and swerved through a dozen pairs of hands before touching down. Bell again converted.

Salisbury's final try came from a ragged line out on the half way line.

Energetic flanker Adam Mussell, cleared up at the tail of the line and sent out a long pass to his centres.

A miss-pass and substitute winger, Dave Barlow had his first touch of the game. Barlow's deceptive running style saw him slice through the cover defence and score under the posts giving Bell his final conversion.

Wycombe replied through an interception try from centre Aaron Redmond, who converted his own try, but the game was won and all that remained was the nail-biting wait for the results from other matches.