Salisbury suffer last-minute penalty but secure a crucial point

Sunday, 22 February 2026 09:11

By Dexter Allison

Noah Coppin celebrates after giving Salisbury the lead (Image: Harry Phillips/Salisbury FC)

The Whites take home a crucial point after going down to ten men and conceding a penalty in additional time to deny the visitors all three points.

The first highlight of the match came in the opening 20 seconds as Taylor managed to stun the Whites' defence with an early goal, striking a half-volley into the bottom left corner to give Chelmsford the lead.

However, Salisbury’s disappointment was short-lived as Hedges was able to pick the ball up in the centre of the pitch, turn his man and play a pass to Morgan, whose strike stings the gloves of the keeper, hitting the feet of Tompkins for an own goal and the equaliser.

As both sides quickly went back to square one, Chelmsford looked to take the lead again in the opening 45 with some threatening attacks almost finding a final touch, but some last-ditch defending and clearances from a bombardment of set-pieces in vital moments thwarted the Clarets' attempts.

With the scores level coming out for the second half, it was Salisbury’s turn to make a fast start through Coppin, who bagged his tenth goal of the season to give the Whites the lead.

Odokonyero plays the ball back to Mo Dabre on the halfway line to release McIntyre down the left flank, passing down the line to Hedges, squaring the ball to Coppin to tap it home.

However, given the nature of the game, the hosts continued to threaten the Salisbury net with crosses into the box, but the Whites were able to defend valiantly.

With a quarter of an hour to go, Salisbury went down to ten men after Dabre received a second yellow card and was sent for an early shower.

Brian Dutton’s side were forced to dig deep, but in the dying embers of the match, the referee awarded a penalty to the hosts for handball.

Taylor stepped up and buried the penalty into the bottom left-hand corner to rescue a point for his side.

The Whites now face another quick turnaround away in Maidenhead on Tuesday evening - Listen to live commentary with Ian and Andy on Salisbury Radio Sport if you can't make the match.