Saturday 21st December – Cribbs 1-2 Melksham Town
Thursday 26 December – Melksham Town 2-0 Westbury Utd
Saturday 28th December – Cinderford Town 3-2 Melksham Town
Wednesday 1st January – Shaftesbury 4-3 Melksham Town
Melksham Town lie third in the league after a busy Christmas schedule.
The highlight was a 2-0 win over local rivals Westbury United on Boxing Day in front of over 1,000 fans before going down to two narrow defeats.
“A late rally not enough against Shaftesbury,” said manager Mark Collier. “Having taken the lead through Harry Baker, we found ourselves 4-1 down with 15 minutes to go. Late goals from Elliot Haffenden and Luke Ballinger almost made the comeback complete but we couldn’t quite find an equaliser.
“We now travel to second place Exmouth Town on Saturday, hoping to rekindle our early season form.
“Before that over the festive period, good bad and indifferent sum up our previous three performances.
“A poor but dogged performance allowed us to travel home from Cribbs with three points with goals from Henry Sady and Luke Ballinger.
“The Boxing Day local derby in front of 1,100 people saw a feisty battle against an inform Westbury United. Late goals from Celeb Summerfield and a Jake Andrews penalty ensured the crowd went home happy.
“Cinderford Town appeared one game too many in such a short space of time, a tired below par performance in shocking conditions saw us go down to a 3-2 defeat.
“Henry Sady put us in front before a resurgent Cinderford took over; a late Harry Baker goal on his full debut gave us some hope late on, but our fine away form came to an end.
“The first half of the season, though, has been very positive and we enter the new year in third place and have become serious contenders for a play-off spot.
“Attendances have increased substantially; we are aware there will be plenty of bumps in the road but we look forward with a lot of optimism, and hope to continue our progression.”
Town in action against Westbury Utd on Boxing Day. Picture: Estelle Bowden, Starsphinx Photography
