Town’s manager vows to better last season’s league performance

Sat. 23rd Nov. Southern League Div. One Melksham Town 2 AFC Totton 2 Sat. 30th Nov. Southern League Div. One Larkhall Athletic 2 Melksham Town 2

MELKSHAM Town FC’s manager, Richard Fey, has promised to put in the ‘hard work’ to turn the club’s fortunes around and better last season’s performance.

Town currently lie in 17th place in the Southern League, and has a long way to go to better last year’s 12th place – but with a stable squad now and with hard work on their defence starting to pay off, manager Richard is hopeful that Town is on the up.

Speaking to Melksham News, Richard said, “I’m not happy with where we are in the table this season. However, we are trying to stabilise the team, and we are aiming to finish higher than last year’s 12th position, and I still believe that we can achieve that. 

“But we’ve got to put in some hard work. We have gone through a lot of players this season, nearly 40 of them, but I look back at where we were last year and I only had one player, Luke Ballinger.

“Now we are signing established Southern League players, which is a credit to the club. We now have the likes of Josh Ford, Dave Thompson and Will Christoper – all local lads and proven Southern League players.

“It’s a work in progress, trying to improve this year and build for next year and the year after. We were never going to come into this season and finish in the play-offs. But I would like to be higher up the table, like any team in the bottom five would. And I am confident of finishing a lot higher than we are now, and having a stable squad for next year.”

First up this fortnight, Town played at home against AFC Totton. A penalty by Luke Ballinger and an injury time goal from Joseph Romanski, helped Town earn a vital point with a 2-2 draw.

“I thought we were excellent,” said Richard. “In the first half, perhaps we weren’t ‘at the races’, but in the second half I thought that we were superb. We created numerous chances and managed to score in the last few minutes through Joe (Romanski) from a corner to save the game and grab a point.

“But we should have put the game to bed before then – we had double-figure chances. But that’s just the story of our season so far. Totton had about four shots on goal for the whole game.

“Totton’s first goal was a good one. But we let ourselves down with the second goal – our defending wasn’t very good. The boys know this, I haven’t got to tell them that. We are one of the top goal scorers in the division, but we concede too many goals – and that’s something we are working hard to put right. 

“When Totton scored with five minutes to go, you feared the worst. But one thing these boys have, is great commitment and character; they’ve come back a few times in games, and they managed to get the equaliser that we deserved. We deserved the draw, if not the win – but to get that late goal and the point was a big boost.”

The match also marked the 300th appearance of Dave Thompson, who returned to the club last month after a spell playing for Bradford Town. 

Richard said, “Thommo is a Melksham legend, he is very highly thought of by everyone at the club. When he made it known that he wanted to play Southern League football it was a no-brainer for me to sign him. He’s come in, been excellent, and I’m looking forward to building a team around him and some of our other players.”

Next up, Town played away to Larkhall Athletic, and an excellent first half performance and goals from Philip Ormrod and Aidan Chainey, saw Town leading 2-0 at half-time. However, an injury for goalkeeper Jamie Bartlett in the second half, left Town fighting to hold on to their lead.

“We were 2-0 up at half-time and it was the best 45 minute performance of the season so far,” said Richard. “We were excellent. But 20 minutes into the second half goalkeeper Jamie Bartlett was hit in the face by a shot on goal, which knocked him out – the ball went over the line and made it 2-1.

“After that, Jamie was carried off, and our 45-year old goalkeeping coach, Nick Evans, came on and made his first match appearance in years. We tried to play the game out – but they were putting the ball on top of Nick in goal, and unfortunately they scored in the last minute with a header, making it 2-2. 

“That’s just our luck, the story of our season – but I don’t want people to feel sorry for us, as football has a habit of evening itself out. Even their manager said we fully deserved the three points, but unfortunately   we are not getting any luck at the moment.”