SALISBURY CITY intend to appeal over the Dr Martens League's decision to dock them three points for fielding an ineligible player in their 4-1 victory at Spalding last month.

But manager Nick Holmes says that even if the penalty stands, it will not spell the end of Whites' promotion ambitions. The ex-Saint insisted: "I am sure it will make my players even more determined to achieve that aim."

The controversy surrounds Nathan Perkins, a recent signing from Devizes Town, who went on as a first-half substitute at Spalding.

It is alleged he was still registered with his previous club, Cirencester, and the oversight was compounded when Salisbury mistakenly sent his registration forms to the Football Association instead of the league.

Whites were fined £100 for the offence but have announced they will make "the strongest appeal possible". The points will not be docked until the appeal has been heard.

Salisbury, meanwhile, have added to their frontline fire by signing 29-year-old hotshot Leigh Phillips from Lymington & New Milton.

He made his debut as a late substitute in Saturday's big promotion clash at Stamford, which ended in a goalless draw.

Yet again Salisbury played well but were lacking the finishing touch and Holmes reflected: "At the end of the season we might regard a 0-0 draw at Stamford as a good result, but I'm disappointed we didn't get the three points today.

"The jigsaw pieces are not quite in place, but we're not far off. We dominated the first half but couldn't take our chances."

Gary Funnell and Darren Crook both missed half-chances in the opening period, but the biggest culprit was Stuart Brown who headed over Matt Davies's free-kick.

Whites were indebted to 'keeper Kevin Sawyer for a smart double save from Kevin Byrne in the second half and Malcolm Ndekwe missed two golden opportunities for Stamford. In between Wayne Turk had an effort touched past the post and, from the resulting corner, Funnell's cross clattered the bar.

Steve Tate is chewing over his future as Newport IoW boss after several of his players laughed off Saturday's 4-0 pasting at Dartford.

Tate, who has only been in management since September, was appalled to hear his players cheering on the coach home after Thierry Henry had missed a penalty for Arsenal.

'Port's woeful defending had been punished by Darts quartet Paul Bates, Dave Powell, Brett Northover and Richard Usherwood and Tate admitted: "I can't understand the mentality of about seven or eight of my players having a laugh and joke on the way home. I'd explained to them how painful defeat is to me and I thought they'd taken it in, but I was shocked to hear them all taking the mickey out of Henry.

"I can't accept that. I leave my wife and baby to go to football, but my players aren't on the same wavelength as me and I've got to question whether I'm in the right job."

Relegation-scrapping Fleet picked up another point in a 0-0 home stalemate against Ashford Town in the Eastern Division - but it should have been three.

The north Hampshire club were defied by a great display of goalkeeping from John Whitehouse.

Both teams had a man dismissed - Ashford's Lee McRobert after 15 minutes for kicking out at defender Wayne Noad and then Fleet's Woking loan man Phil Parsons late on for a second bookable offence.

Havant & Waterlooville gave themselves a much-needed Premier Division pick-me-up with a last-gasp 2-1 win at Chelmsford City.

The FA Trophy quarter-finalists were pegged back by Dale Watkins after taking the lead with a 20-yard belter from Paul Wood, but they grabbed a dramatic late winner from substitute Shaun Gale, who was making his comeback from hamstring trouble.

The former Pompey and Exeter City defender gleefully followed up after the keeper had miraculously parried ex-Saint Dean Blake's rasping volley.

Hawks co-manager Mick Jenkins said: "We asked for a bit more backbone from the players today and they certainly gave us that."