Town end season in 12th place after losing out to Larkhall Athletic

Saturday 22nd April, Southern League Div. One Larkhall Athletic 2 – 2 Melksham Town

On Saturday, Town travelled to Larkhall Athletic looking to finish their league campaign with a win, reports club chairman Darren Perrin.

With well over 100 Melksham supporters making up the crowd, Town fell behind to a harsh handball decision against Ralph Graham and trailed one nil at the break. They deservedly levelled in the 60th minute through Ralph Graham, but poor defending from a set piece three minutes later, enabled the home team to regain the lead. All credit to the players who kept going and deservedly got a point from a good header from Robbie James for his first goal for the club.

Season round-up

Town finished in 12th place but that is not really a true reflection of the efforts put in.

Town started the season ok, but then a poor run of results and availability from players and staff meant that we were around the middle of the table or just above albeit having played more games than the other teams.

New management team

Our manager at the time Rich Fey resigned alongside assistant Nathan Rudge, and were replaced by well-respected and successful manager in Mark Collier with Town player Luke Ballinger taking up the position of assistant manager with another Town favourite Dave Thompson helping out as well.

The football got better and at one stage the play offs looked a real possibility but injuries and suspensions took their toll and results tailed off near the end of the season.

Town were a very young side and the manager will, no doubt had a good look at the players at his disposal over the summer, and I am sure will look to bolster the squad ahead of the next campaign.

Final league table – see page 38.

Reserves, Ladies & Vets

The Reserves have had a remarkable turnaround of results and look almost certain to retain their status in the Wiltshire Senior League, which is a great testimony to current manager Justin Flowers, Phil Goulding and Lewis McMullin and of course the players.

The Ladies, Development and the Under 18s have all done ok. What has been pleasing is the pathway from our successful youth section in enabling the likes of Jake Dodge, Reuban Rule, Tom and Sam Dowell all come through the youth section to all play for the first team at some stage. The future is certainly Black and Yellow.

The vets team have already won the double with two cup victories and need two wins from their last three games to win the treble.

The club would like to thank all our players, staff, volunteers, committee members but probably above all you, the supporters, and our wonderful sponsors. Without a shadow of doubt, we have the best set of fans in this league, and our sponsors who have backed us whether it’s been for the long haul or short haul have been an instrumental part of the success we are building at the club. We won’t chuck silly money around like others; everything must be sustainable and sensible and within our means.

We have got a fantastic list of pre-season friendlies lined up with the first friendly pencilled in and confirmed for Friday 30th June. Announcements will be made in due course.

Presentation evening

Finally, our presentation evening is on Friday 5th May in the Sky Bar, admission is free and open to everyone and we will be having a Race Night as well during the evening.

Once again thank you to everyone who has supported the Town, whether it’s been through the Melksham News, coming to the games or social media; you have a football club that the community of Melksham should be very proud of.

Picture: action from the Larkhall game by Estelle Bowden – https:/ /www.starsphinx.com