‘A chance for a new era’ Stand-in boss calls for changes at Melksham Town

Evo-Stik Southern Div. One – Sat. 13th April. Fleet Town 0 Melksham Town 3 Fri. 19th April. Town 1 Winchester City 4 Mon. 22nd April. Yate Town 3 Town 2

MELKSHAM Town FC’s stand-in manager, Luke Ballinger, says new blood is needed at the club to make changes for next season, as the hunt continues for a new manager following Kieran Baggs’ departure.

Speaking to Melksham News, Luke said, “It’s a great job, but a tough one – but that’s what football is all about. I think that the club needs a fresh face from outside the town, someone who can bring in some exciting changes over the summer. 

“I’m not going for the role, I scored about 20 goals this season, so I feel that I have got a lot more to offer on the pitch – but that’s down to the new manager, whoever they are.

“It looks like the core players from this season won’t be returning to the club, so this is a chance for a new era at Melksham Town, a fresh start.”

Whilst changes are afoot behind the scenes, it was business as usual on the pitch for Town. First up for Town was an away game to Fleet Town. Goals from Jordan Croad, Dan King and Luke himself, earned the team a 3-0 victory, their first since Luke stepped in to replace Kieran. 

Luke said, “This was a good win on a difficult pitch, and it was a great reward for the players after a string of difficult games and difficult circumstances behind the scenes. The lads played really well and thoroughly deserved the win – it was good to get a victory under our belts. It was an enjoyable win, we got the goals we deserved and to get a clean sheet result was excellent.”

Next, on Good Friday, Town played at home at the InfiLED Arena against Winchester City to a 470-strong home crowd, losing 4-1 with Town’s only goal coming from Dan King.

“We had a difficult start,” said Luke. “We started poorly and looked disorganised. The team were all over the place, not doing the jobs that they were supposed to.

“After the first 15 minutes I made some changes, and we started to get back into it and in the second half we could have evened it up. But Winchester delivered a sucker punch of a goal and that pretty much killed the game. We have to be organised from the start and be defensively sound – we weren’t and we got punished.

“The crowd was fantastic – I think it was the biggest crowd that day at our level of football. To have nearly 500 people is fantastic. The support this season has been great, you can’t fault the fans. I know that all the players and the staff appreciate it. We have one more home game (Saturday 27th April against Cirencester Town) and if we can get the numbers again, that would be spot on.”

On Easter Monday, Town travelled away to second placed Yate Town going down 3-2, with goals for Town coming from Luke and Will Thomson.

Luke said, “This was another tough game. We got in front with a goal from me, which was fortunate, but they levelled it by half time. We should’ve gone 2-1 up before the second half but it wasn’t meant to be.

“The boys showed great character but things didn’t go our way. Everyone put in a shift, but they didn’t get the result that they deserved. But that’s the nature of football – you move on. The lads have been really good for the past five games, despite what has happened. We have one last tough game to come – we’ll see what happens.”

• The closing date for applications for the position of first team manager is this Sunday, 28th April. Anyone interested in applying, please contact Darren Perrin on 07855 742960 or email  darrenc     perrin@icloud.com with your CV. All applicants will be kept totally confidential.

League table – see page 30