A heavily-depleted Radstock side returned empty handed from the Good Friday fixture at the Conigre in Melksham.
Forced to defend for long periods of the match, the Miners took an early first-half lead, only to be pegged back by their hosts in the second half. Despite the loss, Radstock Town can take great credit from a battling performance that saw the starting eleven play the full ninety minutes.
Before kick-off, Radstock and Melksham sat in the bottom third of the Western League Premier Division, both on 35 points. Yet the host's relatively low league position belied the ability of a Melksham Town team, finalists in this season's Wiltshire Cup, who can boast the Western League's top goal scorer in Gary Higdon. Radstock were always going to find the Bank Holiday away-day mission a challenge, missing key players including Manager, Ben Newby, and central defensive stalwart, Carl Stone. Such was the Miners plight, that
Assistant Manager, Jared Greenhalgh, named himself amongst the substitutes.
Melksham's target man, Gary Higdon, started strongly, forcing the Miner's goalkeeper and captain for the day, Chris Simsek, into a string of impressive saves. Despite the early pressure, it was a counter-attack from Radstock Town that produced the first goal of the game; Jay Belton's cross from the byline, powered into the Melksham net by Martin Lenihan.
Melksham continued to enjoy the majority of possession throughout the first half, but were seemingly unable to break down a resolute Miners defence, buoyed by their early goal. Melksham did get the ball in the net, but defender, Adam Young, was adjudged to have handled the ball, again following excellent work from the inspired Chris Simsek. The Miners were digging deep and were good value for their half-time lead.
Melksham are notoriously slow starters, particularly after the break, but it was the home side that wrestled back the initiative, five minutes from the restart, with a well-worked move between Higdon and Shaun Benison resulting in Benison bending a well-placed shot to the right of Simsek. Re-invigorated by the equaliser, Melksham pushed forward, taking a deserved lead ten minutes into the second half through Matthew Sharpe, heading in a Tom Robinson corner, at the near post.
The second goal effectively ended the match as a contest. Melksham went looking for a third, but to their credit, Radstock held out, despite their tiring legs. Melksham Captain, David Macey, impressed throughout, a class act at Western League level; the box-to-box midfielder won out in a titanic contest with Radstock playmaker, Cameron Brown, their battle one of the highlights in this entertaining Bank Holiday fixture.
Ian Nockolds