Paulton Rovers 3 Melksham Town 0

Paulton Rovers followed up their fantastic win at Totton last week with a comfortable home victory against a well-supported Melksham Town.

Melksham started the game well, and Albert Hopkins flashed a shot just wide of the Paulton goal. But after six minutes, Liban Ibrahim gained control of the ball in midfield and sent Ed Butcher away to slide the ball emphatically past Matthew Hall in the Melksham goal to put the Rovers one up.

Just two minutes later, Ibrahim again showed tenacity in stealing the ball from an opponent and passed to Butcher, whose jinking run down the left ended with a firm cross which just evaded Will Harvey, but was hammered home at the far post by Jack Ball to make the score 2–0.

Melksham tried to respond and saw plenty of the ball, but outstanding interceptions by Joe Paradise and Neil Martin denied dangerous forwards, Jake Mawford and Jay

Malshanskyj, any clear opportunities.

Manager John Rendell had re-jigged his defence in the absence of Nuno Felix, but James Byrne and Dan Dempsey provided fine support for Paulton’s attacking moves. One of these saw great interplay between Byrne, Leighton Thomas and Butcher, whose shot was blocked on the line. Another saw Thomas head narrowly over the bar from a Harvey cross.

Town came more into the game as the first half drew to a close and Dave Thompson had a goal disallowed for offside, while a great run and shot from Sam Hendy gave them hope.

The second half saw chances at both ends. Aaron Sainsbury saved well from Malshanskyj. For Paulton, Jack Ball’s fine run ended with a shot that flew just over the angle of post and bar.

Tempers flared as Aidan Chainey

clattered into keeper Sainsbury and a

second yellow card for Town’s Ryan Morgan meant that Melksham were down to ten.

Paulton calmly maintained control of the game and in the 63rd minute, Will Harvey drove forward from midfield and sent over a beautiful cross which Leighton Thomas headed powerfully down past the hapless Hall.

In scoring his twentieth goal, Thomas maintained his position as the league’s leading scorer. This was also Rovers’ fiftieth goal of the season, making them the current highest scorers in this division.

To their credit, Melksham continued to try and get something from the game, but good tackling, resilient defending and the safe hands of Sainsbury kept the sheet clean.

Town’s cause was further hindered when defender Oliver Webb was, somewhat harshly, shown a straight red card for a vigorous challenge on David O’Hare. This left Melksham with nine men, who despite battling bravely on, were unable to cause Paulton’s defence any real problems.

Paulton showed great teamwork and determination in this match. A disciplined defence, a creative midfield and clinical finishing were key elements in the victory. They supported each other well on the pitch, both spatially and vocally, and fully deserved their 3–0 win.

The Rovers faithful went home to wrap their presents, eagerly looking forward to local derbies against Larkhall and Frome.

Paulton Man of the Match: James Byrne – solid defending and enterprising going forward.

Noel Avis