Melksham Town 4-1 Trowbridge Town – Wilts Senior Cup Second Round, Sat. 8th Nov.

Melksham entertained Wiltshire Premier League Trowbridge Town at the Conigre in the last 16 of the Wiltshire Senior Cup, looking to progress in the trophy they have held for the last two years.

Whilst on paper they were worthy favourites, the visitors must have fancied their chances of causing an upset with a newly formed team  featuring several players with Western League experience and ex-Town players Stu Greener, Nath Flower, Matt Sharp and Nat Auckland.

The Town started very brightly and put the visiting defence under plenty of early pressure with Dan Kovacs seeing his shot hit the inside of the post and bounce away to safety after only 2 minutes.

However the respite was short  lived and the Town took a deserved lead after 12 minutes when a Ben Thomson cross was nodded home by Rogers.

The Town pinned back the visitors and Bennet hit the bar from a Will Stead cross on 15 minutes before the Town went 2-0 up on 16 minutes, when a superb run and cross from Stead saw Gary Higdon slam home left footed half volley from 10 yards.

It became 3-0 after 20 minutes when Dan King slid a pass through to Kovacs who calmly slotted the ball home and left the visitors with a mountain to climb. As Trowbridge looked to get a foothold in the game on 28 minutes, Trowbridge’s Greener picked up a caution for a mistimed challenge.

On 37 minutes the visitors were given a lifeline when Flower hit home a 25 yard effort which sailed over Brown and into the net to leave the Town 3-1 ahead at the break.

The second half saw an improved Trowbridge side put the home defence under pressure and Fielding picked up a caution for a foul on Auckland on 48 minutes and Stead joined him in the book on 56 minutes. Although the visitors enjoyed a greater share of possession, they struggled to create clear openings and on a rare sortee into Trowbridge territory, Kovacs saw his lob tipped over the bar after latching onto a Stead pass on 62 minutes.

As the final whistle approached, a fine cross by Barnett was calmly slid into the net by Rogers for his second of the game and to end the game with a 4-1 victory for the home side.