Melksham travelled to Bristol to meet a Longwell Green side who had won their last three games and had already dumped the Town out of this season’s FA Cup competition.
In one Town change from the mid week win at Bristol Manor Farm, Ian Jeffery returned for the unavailable Luke Smith.
It was apparent from the opening exchanges that this game was to be a complete contrast from the midweek fixture with a bobbly pitch, strong wind and numerous stoppages breaking up any pattern and chances of football of any quality.
In a forgetful first half the only incidents of note were the opening goals which saw the home side take the lead on 31 minutes from a rare lapse by Town keeper Brown, when he failed to hold a long free kick, enabling Pocock to knock the ball home at the second attempt.
Any thoughts that the Town were to buckle were soon dispelled when Town winger Ben Thomson drove in an inswinging corner that was headed down into the ground by Ryan Bennet, for the ball to bounce over the defender on the line and into the net to make the scores 1-1 at the break. The second period followed the pattern of the first with some attritional football played, and it wasn’t until the 70th minute until the Town went ahead when another Thomson run and cross was cleverly dummied by the Town strikers for midfielder Mike Perrott to ram home an unstoppable shot from eight yards and give the Town a valuable 2-1 lead.
With 10 minutes to go the Town made the game safe when a rare piece of quality play in the game from Stead and Thomson saw Thomson’s superb pass brought down by Kovacs, and the Town striker calmly stroked home his 24th goal of the season and make the game safe, and Thomson’s involvement in all three goals rightly meant he claimed the man of the match award for Melksham.
Town used their three subs King, Harris and Rogers for Benison, Kovacs and Thomson as the half wore on, and were happy to take the three points back to Wiltshire to strengthen their league campaign and maintain their lead at the top of the table, where at this stage of the season the points are all important.
With only six games to go, all away from home, the Town face a trip to Cadbury Heath next Saturday and a mid week trip to league challengers Odd Down on the following Tuesday 31st March.
The Towns reserves meanwhile ground out a 1-0 home win over Corsham Town Reserves thanks to a Ash Caws goal, and they also sit at the top of the league, Wiltshire Premier League, with the season nearing its climax in what promises to be an exciting and nervy final few weeks of the season for all at the club. The Reserves visit Corsham in a return fixture on Wednesday 25th March with a 7.30pm ko before entertaining Supermarine at The Conigre on Saturday 28th March.
To round off an excellent weekend for the Town the A team completed their second leg Spring Cup tie with a 2-1 victory at Heytesbury to complete a 5-1 aggregate victory, with goals from Dan Moore and Jordan Kirk, and will now entertain Trowbridge Wanderers Reserves in the quarter final on Saturday 28th March.
Remaining Fixtures
Saturday 28th March – Cadbury Heath (A) League, 3pm
Tuesday 31st March – Odd Down (A) League, 7.30pm
Friday 3rd April – Bradford Town (A) League, 3pm
Saturday 11th April – Slimbridge (A) League, 3pm
Saturday 25th April – Buckland Athletic (A) League, 3pm
Saturday 2nd May – Willand Rovers (A) League, 3pm