SALISBURY City will look to continue their march up the Dr Martens Eastern Division table this week with two home games in five days, writes Mike Turner.
Nick Holmes' side, unbeaten in their last six league outings, entertain Dartford on Saturday before Erith & Belvedere make the trip to Old Sarum on Wednesday evening.
Whites, who are still playing catch-up on the majority of the teams in the league because of their lengthy FA Cup run, have hit a rich vein of form since their cup exit at Hillsborough.
They followed up a 2-0 win over Corby Town with an impressive 2-1 success away at high-fliers Eastleigh - the last side to have defeated Salisbury in the league.
Saturday's 2-0 victory at lowly Rothwell Town ensured a maximum nine-point haul since the Sheffield Wednesday defeat which has delighted Holmes who is looking to ensure his side finish the campaign well within the top seven places necessary for them to move up to the restructured Southern Premier Division.
"Both Dartford and Erith are teams who will come here and make it very, very difficult for us," said the City boss.
"We know Dartford will try to play a little bit, while Erith have a couple of useful strikers who often score goals, but we know we can usually get Erith at the other end, although I think they were the only team to beat us twice last season."
Another six points would be most welcome and would put Whites back in contention near the top of the table.
"Since the win against Havant I think we've got 16 out of 18 points." said Holmes. "We are a decent team, but it shows we started the season slowly.
"The additions of Craig Davis and Matt Tubbs have been positive and haven't had a detrimental effect on other players. The team spirit that was there before is even stronger now and it augers well for the rest of the season."
Holmes admitted the club is likely to make a move on another player later this week after having initial bids for East-leigh's Rob Marshall and Bashley's Aaron Cook rebuffed.
City will again be without Michael Cooper (knee) and skipper Scott Bartlett (wrist).
"Michael is still struggling and he's going to be out a little longer than we'd hoped," explained Holmes. "Scott is certainly going to be out for at least another week until they put a different cast on his wrist."
Wednesday night's game with Erith & Belvedere was moved back from its original Tuesday evening slot because of clashing with Saints' televised League Cup tie with neighbours Portsmouth.
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