Town performing well but Lady Luck’s not on their side

Tues. 29th Sept. Southern League Div. One Moneyfields 0 Melksham Town 2 Sat. 3rd October. FA Cup Wimborne Town 0 Melksham Town 0 Wimborne won on penalties Tues. 6th October. Southern League Div. One Melksham Town 0 Cirencester Town 4 Sat. 10th October. Southern League Div. One Melksham Town 0 Highworth Town 1

MELKSHAM Town FC’s manager, Richard Fey, has praised the recent performance of his team despite a trio of losses in the league and FA Cup following on from their first league win of the season.

Town’s manager has said that the players are putting in “excellent” performances and should be “proud” of how far they reached in the FA Cup – their best performance in 24 years – and has added that “Lady Luck” is not on the their side.

“The boys are playing well,” said Richard speaking to Melksham News, “their performances are excellent! But that’s football. It’s a long old season and there are going to be plenty of twists and turns! My main focus now is keeping the boys positive and getting them ready for the games ahead,”

Town won their first league match of the season against Moneyfields, with Richard said, “It was a great result, a great display, a great performance. The majority of the lads, including myself, had to take half a day’s holiday to attend, as it is the furthest journey of the season – and it was on a Tuesday night – so we went down with bare bones, but we did it and had a great result.

“There were two great goals from Jack Ball – one from the halfway line. And Moneyfields didn’t cause us any problems – it was pleasing to keep a clean sheet, get the three points, and get off the mark.”

Next up, Town faced Wimborne Town in the FA Cup second qualifying round – the club’s best showing in the FA Cup in 24 years. But this time, when faced with another penalty shootout, Lady Luck was not on Town’s side.

“Wimborne are in the league above us with some good players,” said Richard. “We did our homework on them, and they did their homework on us. It was a real typical end-to-end FA Cup match.

“We created some great chances and hit the crossbar twice – Luke Ballinger and Jack Ball – and they had some other good chances as well. And to draw with a team in the league above us is a great result.

“Any other year we would’ve got a replay and they would’ve come back to us, but this year because of Covid it had to go straight to penalties. And unfortunately, we were one kick away from going through, but Will Christopher missed his, and captain Josh Ford hit the post.

“But I was really proud of the boys as we were playing a team in the league above, we’d already won two games in the FA Cup and brought in some good prize money for the club.

“And when it comes to penalty shoot-outs, it’s just a lottery. On another day we would have got the replay and I think we would’ve beaten them at home.”

Next, Town faced Cirencester Town at the InfiLED Arena at Oakfields, but a last minute change to Town’s squad left the Black and Yellows at a disadvantage.

“Performance-wise I thought we were excellent, we played really well and created numerous chances,” said Richard. “Unfortunately, the day of the game I got told that the goalkeeper we had on loan from Reading had been called back, and with our regular goalkeeper, Jamie Bartlett, away, we were left without a keeper.

“We managed to borrow Nathan Ball, who is currently on the bench at Warminster – he came in and unfortunately did not have a good night. He blamed himself for all four goals, and I have to agree with him. If we had Jamie Bartlett it would have been a different result.

“But again, we created numerous chances but couldn’t score. It was pleasing to see a standing ovation from the fans as the boys walked off – as they didn’t deserve the loss, but that’s football, some days you have to take the rough with the smooth.”

The final game of the fortnight was another home match for Town against Highworth Town.

“We had Jamie Bartlett back,” said Richard, “but we lost Phil Ormrod on the day of the game with the flu, which disrupted things. But we changed things around as we have had so many games in such a short space of time.

“Again we had numerous chances, they were there for the taking, but we just couldn’t score. I’m not going to stand here and say it’s because of this or that, the boys are playing really well, we’re just not getting any ‘Lady Luck’ at the moment. I was proud of the lads.

“But it will change, this is football, I just need to pick the boys up at training, and get ready for the next run of games – three tough games in six days – Slimbridge, Thatcham and Evesham, all away. We will do our best to get some points on the board.”