Melksham had to dig deep to grind out a 2-1 victory over a Brislington side who had a one man advantage for the last 25 minutes of the match after the Town saw Will Stead dismissed for two yellow cards on 65 minutes.
In the opening minutes the Town thought they went into a 1-0 lead when a long Syeed Ibrahim throw appeared to take a slight touch off a defender before winding up in the visitors net, but after initially awarding the goal the referee then changed his mind and disallowed the goal under advice from his assistant much to the annoyance of the home side and management team.
On 10 minutes Melksham’s Stradling burst through on goal but saw his effort saved by the visiting keeper Macfarlane, and minutes later Stead flashed a shot just wide as the game opened at a good tempo.
Melksham were rewarded for their early pressure with an opening goal on 12 minutes when a corner was partially cleared, and as Town’s Ian Jeffery returned the ball first time back into the box the ball sailed over the bemused keeper and nestled into the back of the net to give Melksham a 1-0 lead.
On the half hour mark Brislington were handed a route back into the game when Fielding under hit a back pass, and despite a valiant effort by Town keeper Brown he was left exposed, and Brislington’s Meacham scored to level the scores at 1-1. Seconds later Moss almost turned in a shot to put the visitors ahead but his effort went just wide.
On 36 minutes Stead picked up his first caution of the evening for a strong challenge, and as the game drifted towards the break and the players became frustrated with the officials performance, Knight for Brislington picked up a caution and Higdon joined him in the referees book for some “handbags” at a corner.
The break saw the scores level at 1-1.
Melksham came out at the start of the second period and immediately created a couple of opportunities, with Higdon heading a Kovacs cross just over and the same player hooking over from close range after a Benison corner.
On 58 minutes Melksham gained just reward for their start to the half by taking the lead. Some good wide play from Stradling saw him thread a pass through to Kovacs who held up the ball and deftly laid the ball into the path of Ben Thomson who smashed the ball in from close range to put Town 2-1 ahead.
Any thoughts that this might enable the Town to put further ahead were dispelled on 65 minutes when Stead picked up a caution for rash challenge leaving the referee with no option other than to dismiss the player.
Immediately manager Darren Perrin bolstered the midfield replacing Kovacs with Morris and the Town rolled up their sleeves in a bid to hang onto the points. Thomson and Benison were cautioned for dissent on 75 and 78 minutes as Brislington enjoyed more possession with Knight prominent, and on 84 minutes Brown produced a fine save to keep out Brislington’s Winter as he ran onto the goal unchallenged.
On 88 minutes Demkiv replaced Higdon and on the final whistle Brown again had to be alert to clear the danger at the near post.
The referee brought an end to the game moments later giving the Town a hard earned three points, increasing the unbeaten run to nine games and leaving the Town in third place.
