Shepton Mallet 0-1 Melksham Town – Toolstation Premier, Saturday 12th March

Melksham were on their travels once again with a trip to a Shepton Mallet side who had already defeated the Town by a narrow 1-0 scoreline in their encounter at the start of the season.

However Melksham avenged that defeat with a narrow 1-0 victory of their own, which saw the unbeaten run extended to 12 games, with a run of 7 consecutive wins and a continued climb up the table.

Melksham kicked off up the slope in the first period and from the kick off immediately forced a corner. From the Thomson corner, striker Higdon rose unmarked at the far post to head in his 21st goal of the season and put Melksham 1-0 ahead, to the delight of the Melksham travelling support enjoying the balmy sunshine.

Melksham continued to take the game to a Shepton side whose neat close passing style was time and time again coming unstuck on a pitch which had suffered from the wet period of late and became increasingly difficult as the game wore on. Higdon saw an effort well blocked by Thorne after only 5 minutes whilst on 20 minutes, Higdon headed another Thomson corner just wide. On 22 minutes Melksham nearly went 2-0 ahead in somewhat fortuitous circumstances, when Thomson’s over-hit cross deceived home keeper Fox and cannoned away off the post and the ball was cleared away.

The Town defence kept the dangerous home side forwards to long distance efforts, with youngster Maidment, in the starting line up for injured skipper Bennet, belying his tender years with a mature performance at the back.

The interval saw the Town hold a slender 1-0 advantage.

The second period saw Melksham create the first clear opportunity on 50 minutes when Hidgon at full stretch, lifted the ball over the keeper’s head, but the ball died on the sodden surface, lacking the pace to travel over the line and the keeper recovered to pounce on the ball just before it crossed the line.

On 60 minutes home keeper Fox bravely punched the ball off the head of Thomson as he looked to nod home a Barnett cross, whilst on 65 minutes, Town keeper Brown produced a fine save to keep out an effort from Cleverley, as Shepton strove for an equaliser.

On 67 minutes Shepton so nearly pulled level when Willmott saw his effort crash off the inside of the Town upright and the ball was scrambled clear, whilst at the other end, Fox was also called into action to grab the loose ball in the area after a cross from Thomson.

Melksham continued to look dangerous at set pieces and Fielding headed just wide from a corner.

As the game drifted into the last 10 minutes, Kovacs was introduced for Higdon, as the substitute began his recovery from injury and on 88 minutes Forester was introduced for Thomson.

As the game entered injury time, Shepton threw more men forward and Brown was again called into action and parried away a goal-bound effort at full stretch, with Jeffery on hand to complete the clearance.

The full-time whistle blew shortly afterwards to complete a 1-0 victory for the Town, which pushed them up to 4th place in the league. The game featured the 200th appearance for the club for both Shaun Benison and David Thompson, after debuts in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

To cap a good weekend for the Town, the club’s ‘A’ team beat White Horse 2-1 in their Knock-Out Cup Semi-Final, thanks to two goals from Rhys Talmash.

Next up for the Town, the visit of third placed Willand Rovers, before the Good Friday home fixture with Bradford Town with a 1.00 pm kick off.