Sat. 27th April. Evo-Stik Southern Div. One Melksham Town 0 Cirencester Town 1
MELKSHAM Town FC has finished their first season in the Southern League in twelfth place.
Despite ending the season with a loss against Cirencester Town, acting manager Luke Ballinger has summed up the club’s debut season in the Southern League as a ‘success’, promising plenty to look forward to in the coming year.
Talking to Melksham News, Luke said, “You can look at the season as one of two parts. We had a great start to the season with a run of seven games in the league undefeated – it was a great effort by everyone. Then for part of the season over Christmas we didn’t pick up many points, and that cost us. But for our first year in the Southern League, I would say that it has been a success – yes it’s had its ups and downs, but that’s football.
“We’ve had a few departures with manager Kieran (Baggs) and a few of the players leaving, but the young boys who have come in to play have been excellent, I can’t fault them.
“So overall, it’s been a good year. We’ve stayed up in the league, and we have a new stand in the grounds that we needed in case of promotion – so we’re ready for that.
“There is lots to look forward to. New manager Richard Fey will want to bring in new faces for next season, so we will see what happens. I’ve known Richard for a long time – I used to play for him at Chippenham – so I know how he works. He’s got a good approach to football and will bring with him experience and stability for the club.
“I will keep helping out any way that I can. I’ll hopefully be playing more, but I will be happy to help at training and give my opinion on local players.
“It’s going to be an interesting time for Town, let’s see what happens!”
Reflecting on the final match of the season against Cirencester Town, which saw Town lose 1-0 after a last-minute penalty was awarded to Cirencester, Luke said, “I’m gutted to be honest, it was a great end to the six weeks the boys have been playing together. It should have been 2-0 to us at half time in my opinion.
“Cirencester have scored 100 goals this season, so to keep them from scoring for 90 minutes was impressive.
“Then in the 90th minute the ref awarded them a penalty. Was it a penalty? Not in my opinion.
“But it was a great game to end the season on, bar the result. Everything that we had been working on over the past six weeks came into play. It was a great way to end, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
