Four points from two games as Town ease relegation fears

Saturday 14th February. Melksham Town 1-0 Winchester City

Saturday 21st February. Melksham Town 1-1 Malvern Town

Melksham Town have eased their relegation worries with four points from two difficult home games against promotion chasing sides.

They won 1-0 against fourth placed Winchester City on Saturday 14th February before earning a point with a 1-1 draw against second placed Malvern last Saturday, 21st February.

Before the game against Winchester, there was a minute’s silence to remember Mick Perrin, who devoted more than six decades to the club as a player, secretary, chairman and president.

On the pitch, the winning goal came from Will Christopher after 60 minutes in a feisty encounter which saw seven yellow cards and a late red for Winchester’s Tom Wright.

Head Coach Stuart Fleetwood said the win was richly deserved. “I felt we didn’t get the rub of the green today,” he said. “But we dug in and were so resolute and the tackle from Coops (captain Mark Cooper) at the end typifies what we were about.

“We were a bit horrible today and that was needed. A great goal when it came, a couple of little half chances but if you keep clean sheets at this level, you’re going to win games and pick up points and that’s what got us over the line today.

“Jack Carter at right back was outstanding. He’s kept one of the top players at this level in Ramos very very quiet. Young Leon Hardman, still 17 playing like he’s been there five or six years. Nat Davis in there breaking stuff up, being a pain, being a pest, but there’s not one player on our side I can fault today because they all deserve that three points.”

Town followed this up with a point on Saturday against Malvern who are flying high with just one defeat in their last 13 games.

Jamal Lawrence put Town ahead on 20 minutes before they were pegged back by a goal from Sam Clark on 37 minutes.

Harry Clark saw red after an hour for the visitors but Town couldn’t make their man advantage count and the points were shared.

“Spicy wasn’t it?” said Stuart Fleetwood. “A few losses of temper. It was a hard-fought point. I think when they went down to ten, we go for it but you’ve got to remember where we are in the league and you take your point, you’re playing second in the league today.

“We limited them to very very little. I think their goal is a quality delivery and a quality header. But other than that, I can’t remember Fozzy (goalkeeper Adam Forster) having to make a save. Their keeper has pulled off two fantastic saves in the first half. The second one from Leon Hardman has gotten them a point; you take a point before the game and overall I’m delighted with a point.

“If somebody offered us five points out of our last three games against teams all in the top six, we’d have bitten your hand off. To only concede one goal in those three games as well is testament to what the lads have done in the last few weeks.

“We’ve looked at lot more savvy. We’ve looked a lot more intelligent as a team. And I think that goes a long way in terms of fighting relegation. You have to have that calmness but you also have to have that cleverness and I think we had that in abundance today and we’ve taken a team that is second in the league who’ve lost only six games all season and we’ve gone toe to toe with them and they know they’ve been in a game today.”

Semi-final postponed

Town’s Wiltshire FA Premier Shield semi-final against Laverstock and Ford on Wednesday night, 11th February was postponed due to the weather. The new date is yet to be fixed but will be announced on the club’s Facebook page.

Pictures by: Starsphinx Photography