The Whites created the better chances early on, with Tommy Willard standing over a free kick inside the opening minutes. He curled it low around the wall, but it glanced just the wrong side of the post.
The next opportunity fell to Harry Tustin after Matty Taylor broke through the Slough defensive line. Taylor held up play, waiting for support, and found Tustin, who tried to lay the ball off quickly, but his pass was intercepted.
Their efforts paid off in the 16th minute when Harry Lee played a tantalising ball low across the box. Matt Briggs cleverly left it, allowing it to fall to Tommy Willard, who, in his first appearance since returning from injury, stabbed it past Desbois to give Salisbury the lead.
Less than ten minutes later, Matty Taylor pulled the trigger from outside the box, rocketing his shot goalwards. It thundered against the underside of the crossbar before bouncing out.
Salisbury FC vs Slough Town on October 18_(Image: John Rose)_
Just before the half-hour mark, Taylor caused more problems when he dispossessed the Slough defence. He tried to slot the ball through to Willard, who was charging into the box, but the pass was just ahead of him and collected by Desbois.
As half-time approached, the players grew restless, and a series of fouls from both sides followed. The break allowed the teams to settle.
On the hour mark, substitute Jared Myers won the visitors a corner. Tarik Giradee swung the ball in, and Myers, in a sea of bodies, got the final touch to level the score.
Josh Hedges, who had been substituted on shortly after the goal, made an immediate impact. His first chance saw him one-on-one with Desbois; he went for the lob, but the keeper collected.
He had the chance to repeat the attempt minutes later, this time opting to slot the ball low to the right, but Desbois made the save again.
It was third time lucky for Hedges, who danced along the edge of the box surrounded by four defenders before firing a precise shot into the bottom corner on the keeper’s right-hand side to restore Salisbury’s lead.
Slough had a chance to snatch a point at the death through Wiktor Makowski, who found himself through on goal against Will Buse. He tried to tuck it away, but his attempt went off target, sealing Salisbury’s first victory of the season.