Bristol Manor Farm 0 Melksham Town 1
Melksham just about edged this closely fought affair at The Creek, played in swirling, stormy conditions. With results elsewhere going their way, the win lifts the Wiltshire side into fifth place in the table and a promotion play-off spot. Richard Fey’s team were made to battle hard for their three points, however, with Manor Farm pushing them all the way in pursuit of a share of them.
Farm had a good opportunity to open the scoring within the games first five minutes but Lewis Leigh-Gilchrist hit a centrally-positioned free-kick just over the bar from 22 yards. With quarter of an hour played Farm keeper Ben John had to punch a corner out from under his own crossbar as the wind played havoc with the ball. Melksham’s Albert Hopkins then hit a free kick of his own over John’s crossbar as the visitors pressed strongly for an opener. Their pressure told when just past the half-hour mark in a move played from right to left and back into the centre again, full-back Joseph Romanski was tee’d up nicely to pick his spot past John
from the edge of the penalty area. Farm defended well in the opening quarter of the second half with Ben John called upon to save well in the 51 st and 66 th minute respectively. Melksham’s Matt Hurley then blasted a good shot just over the bar in the 73 rd minute. Manor Farm finished the game strongly but despite some good approach play could not supply the required finish to salvage a point from the game.
STAR MAN (Jake Mawford, Melksham Town)