Melksham followed up Saturday’s opening day win with another hard earned three points with a 4-2 victory over Longwell Green.
The first quarter of the game was devoid of real clear cut openings, with Melksham’s only real effort coming after 10 minutes, when some good interplay between Ash Barnett and Gary Higdon saw the striker hit his effort just wide .
However Melksham drew first blood on 28 minutes when a long punt from home keeper Rob Brown was flicked on into the box by Mike Perrott, where Dan Kovacs managed to nick the ball around the keeper, only to be felled by the keeper’s follow through.
The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, and Kovacs dusted himself down and slammed home the kick for his second penalty in two games, and meaning the Town’s first three goals of the season were all from penalties.
As the game opened up a bit the homeside came close to going 2-0 up when Ryan Bennet’s header from a Dave Thompson freekick was deflected wide, but Longwell got a deserved equaliser on 41 minutes with the goal yet again, at The Conigre, coming from the penalty spot.
This time there was an element of confusion as home keeper Brown initially brought down a visiting attacker just outside the box, but the referee played an unseen advantage which resulted in a subsequent foul in the box and the resultant penalty duly dispatched. Melksham Perrott picked up a caution for dissent in the aftermath of the incident.
Indeed just before the break the visiting side passed up a glorious opportunity to take the lead, but the striker drove his effort wildly over the bar and the interval was reached with the sides level at 1-1 and all to play for.
The second half saw the game played at a much greater tempo and Melksham’s Thompson picked up a caution for a mistimed challenge on 57 minutes before the home side went ahead once more on 58 minutes. The goal was created by Ian Jeffery who skipped past a couple of players before delivering a driven cross which was deflected into the net by the merest touch from Kovacs, aided by a visiting defender.
Higdon went close with a couple of efforts after latching onto passes from Perrott and Hiscocks around the hour mark, before Melksham pulled 3-1 ahead on 64 minutes when Bennet headed in a Jeffery corner.
Melksham introduced their three substitutes Stead, Benison and Morris in quick succession, and Melksham made the points secure on 82 minutes when Morris slammed home a low skidding 25 yard drive which went under the keeper after some more set up play from Jeffery.
The visitors grabbed a consolation goal just before the full time whistle to make the final score line 4-2 for the homeside who stretched their unbeaten run to 14 games including the tail end of last season.
