After surviving an early bombardment the Terras hit the bar through Kwesi Appiah only to see Salisbury take the lead on 31 minutes through a soft goal from Chris Todd.

However, the most damaging moment for the hosts came 10 minutes later when Reed scythed down Luke Ruddick in City’s half with a rash challenge and justifiably got his marching orders.

From then on the Terras clearly had a mountain to climb so when Matt Tubbs doubled City’s advantage on 55 minutes the result was never in doubt.

Charlie Griffin and Darrell Clarke went on to add further goals for the Whites and although the hosts continued to battle it was clear at the final whistle even to the most optimistic of Weymouth fans that the Terras are without a doubt in a relegation battle.

Terras’ boss Alan Lewer made one change to his starting XI with Cameron Mawer returning from suspension and replacing Scott Dixon, who dropped to the bench. Ollie Tribe was the unlucky one to miss out.

City stormed out of the blocks and were unfortunate not to take the lead in the opening minute when Griffin out-jumped home keeper Simon Evans and headed home from a high looping cross from Ian Herring.

The visitors wheeled away in celebration only to have the effort disallowed by an unconvincing decision by referee Marvin Thompson, who awarded a free-kick for a foul on Evans.

Sixty seconds later the Whites then saw Clarke have a shot through the legs of Evans cleared off the line by Mawer as Weymouth continued to ride their luck.

The next 10 minutes saw the Terras begin to settle with Jake Hyde and Appiah displaying good movement in a bid to stretch City’s defence.

And the two players nearly linked up and provided the opening goal on 13 minutes when Reed’s threaded pass put Appiah in space on the right but his low driven cross was just too far in front of the onrushing Hyde at the far post.

The home team’s 4-5-1 formation was now looking a lot more solid although Salisbury did nearly get Griffin in again on 19 minutes. The forward ghosted in at the back post but his header on the stretch found the side-netting from Sean Clohessy’s deep cross.

Weymouth then responded by hitting the woodwork at the other end through Appiah whose looping effort from Hyde’s cross cannoned off the underside of the bar before being scooped out close to the line by City keeper James Bittner.

The Terras claimed the ball had crossed the whitewash but Thompson and his assistant waved away their appeals. A midfield battle then ensued until City finally broke the deadlock just after the half-hour from a corner. Tubbs swung the cross in from the left and when Griffin headed the ball down at the back post Todd poked home from close range just in front of an uncertain Evans.

To make matters worse for the Terras they then lost skipper Reed to a straight red card on 41 minutes. The midfielder, who took a blow to the face moments earlier, lunged in with a reckless tackle on Ruddick and could have no complaints with the instant dismissal.

Appiah also suffered a knock just before the break and had to be replaced by Jermaine Palmer in the second half as City took complete control.

A second goal was clearly on the cards and it came on 55 minutes when Tubbs netted from a corner with a fine effort that took a slight deflection before passing the outstretched hand of Evans.

To their credit the Terras kept working hard and eight minutes later they nearly grabbed one back when Hyde’s quick feet in the box ended with a driven cross which Palmer could not quite turn in despite being just two yards out.

It was clearly not going to be the home side’s day and on 68 minutes they suffered more heartache when Griffin cut inside Jordan Vincent on the left and slotted a fine finish into the corner of the net from 15 yards.

Griffin then nearly grabbed his second just a minute later with a volley from a corner but his effort flew just wide as Terras’ heads began to drop.

City kept piling forward and on 71 minutes a poor error by Evans saw him spill a routine cross at the feet of Clarke who gratefully tapped in a fourth to complete the scoring.