Borough's huge lead at the top of the table was pruned back to sixteen points by a battling Salisbury team.

It was rammed home to Brendan Phillips' side that winning the championship is no foregone conclusion as they were made to pay for missing early chances.

Salisbury's goalkeeper Jason Matthews was in invincible form as he pulled out save after save.

He made excellent stops from Barry Williams and Steve Prindiville and then flung himself at full stretch to push away a rocketing effort from Ian Muir.

But Borough received a warning just before half time when Paul Sales, the former Southampton striker, twice went close to finding the net.

Nuneaton did not dominate after the interval to the same extent and the cathedral city made the vital breakthrough in the 63rd minute when Borough's goalkeeper Kevin Shoemaker pushed out Neil Housley's shot only to see Jimmy Hayter slot home the rebound.