THERE’S a common theme running through Melksham Town’s performances this season as the side either start the game slowly or struggle to hang onto a lead.
Following a disappointing string of results at the end of August, Town picked themselves up for the away game against Longwell Green with a 0-6 win.
“We displayed a professional performance against Longwell Green but they are struggling at the bottom of the table at the moment so we would have been disappointed with anything but a win,” said assistant manager, Luke Ballinger.
“We made a slow start but after a stern warning at half time, we came out and played with pace and quality. If the game had gone on another 10 minutes it could have been 0-10.”
Melksham travelled to top-of-the-league side Buckland Athletic four days later, hoping to build on the win at Longwell Green, but had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
Luke said, “Another slow start to the game against Buckland Athletic and we could have been three or four down. We managed to get back into the game and were winning 2-1, but switched off and conceded a goal from a free kick and Buckland made it 2-2. It was a fair result in the end.”
Back at the Oakfields, Town welcomed Bitton but couldn’t find the back of the net and lost 2-0.
Luke said, “We had a poor first half against Bitton but the second half we showed a bit more determination and controlled the game a lot better. But we didn’t take the chances we created, but that’s football – it doesn’t always go your way.”
Town had to settle for another draw against Street on Saturday 9th September at Oakfields as the visitors made a remarkable comeback from 3-1 down to a full time score of 3-3.
Luke said, “A draw against Street was a fair result. It was the same story as the previous games – we went behind early on, but managed to pull back a 2-1 lead in the first half. Second half we came out strong and made it 3-1 and you would have thought we could hold on to the win, but our energy zapped and Street made a comeback.
“There seems to be a common theme with our performance at the moment. We aren’t killing off the game when we’re dominating and we’re being punished in the later stages of games. This is something we need to adjust and keep working on. It’s simple things we need to change and we know we can do it.
“We aren’t worried, but we’ve played a few more games than the teams below us so if they start winning their games in hand, they will creep up on us.
“We are the best team in the league, there’s no doubt about that. We just need to start showing what we are capable of and what we know we can achieve. We’re not going to be happy sitting in the fourth or fifth spot, we want to be sitting at the top.
“The support from the fans has been great. We’ve had 300-400 through the turnstiles a number of times, which is fantastic. Please keep supporting us and we will make you proud.”
