Cadbury Heath 2 – 3 Melksham Town – Toolstation Premier Division, Sat 30th Oct

The Town faced a mid- week trip to 4th place Cadbury Heath and secured a fine 3-2 win to banish the memories of a 9-2 thrashing dished out to them last season.

Manager Darren Perrin shuffled his line up with Nathan Flower and Matt Cooper brought back into the back four for the unavailable Stu Greener and Ethan Cox and Josh Robinson handed a start with the Town reverting to a 4-4-2 formation.

Right from the off the Town took the game to the home side and in an exciting first half created chances a plenty, although against the run of play the Heathens went 1-0 ahead when Huxley was left all alone at the far post to head home.

Melksham responded well with strikers Gary Higdon and Dan Kovacs causing the home defence plenty of problems and ably supported by an energetic Shaun Benison on the flank.

On 16 minutes the Town appealed in vain for a penalty as Higdon’s clever flick of the ball appeared to strike a home defender on the hand but the appeal was waived aside, but on 18 minutes the Town scored a deserved equaliser when Higdon’s cross was headed in by Kovacs, leaving the keeper with no chance.

On 23 minutes Josh Robinson robbed a home player of the ball and the ball fell to Higdon whose pass found Kovacs whose shot from 20 yards screamed over the bar and as the Town pressed, Kovacs again saw his shot well saved by the home keeper.

On 37 minutes Josh Robinson’s corner caused chaos in the home defence as the ball rattled against the bar and the same player was desperately unlucky on 42 minutes to see his 25 yard shot hit the bar and the rebound cleared to safety at the second attempt and it looked only a matter of time before the visitors would grab the lead. However just before the break the Heathens got their noses back in front when Huxley again headed home from a free kick and Melksham found themselves 2-1 down in a game they had controlled for the most part.

Early in the second period Town keeper Drewitt was forced into his first meaningful save of the game when tipping over a clever chip, but the Town responded well and Higdon saw another effort blocked behind for a corner after good approach play by Josh Robinson and Kovacs.

On 57 minutes the Town nearly drew level when the home keeper dropped a long hopeful freekick from Ian Jeffery onto the foot of Tom Stocks, but his effort was scrambled off the line and the Town wondered if it might be one of those nights whereby their efforts were not going to be rewarded.

However on 69 minutes the Town drew level thanks to a magnificent 25 yard volley from Shaun Benison that flew past the home keeper to bring the scores level at 2-2.

With 10 minutes remaining, the Town brought on Will Stead for Tom Robinson and the youngster almost immediately made an impact when he drove past two challenges in the midfield and saw his 25 yard effort deflected behind for a corner.

On 82 minutes Higdon saw his chip deflected over as the visitors piled on the pressure without reward.

However their efforts were rewarded on 83 minutes when a Benison corner was met by Higdon at the near post and his header found the back of the net to put Melksham 3-2 in front.

As the time ran down Dan Griffiths came on for Josh Robinson and the substitute picked up a late booking for dissent but in truth, the Town held out comfortably for a deserved three points with a performance that was as good as anything they have produced this term.