Melksham Town v Gillingham Town – 24/08/13
Manager Adrian Foster was able to field a strong team for this fixture, though Jack Vallis was unavailable and Dan Cox was on the bench recovering from a toe injury.
The game got off to a dream start when the Gills took the lead after only 2 minutes of play. Gary Bowles played a pinpoint long pass out of defence which was flicked on by the head of Ben Thomson into the path of Lee Gale who was on the right hand corner of the area. Lee feinted one way and then the other to leave his marker off balance and then took a right footed shot. Although the Melksham keeper Tom Drewitt got a hand to the effort he couldn’t stop the ball from entering the net.
The Gills nearly doubled their lead only 3 minutes later when a corner was collected by Harry Baker at the back of the area. Harry drove the ball low across the area and Lee Gale flicked the ball towards goal, but with Tom Drewitt rooted to the spot the ball went inches wide of the right post.
The Gills continued to dominate proceedings and their second goal came on the 12 minute mark. This time it was Lee Gale’s chance to turn provider when he flicked on a long ball out of defence to Harry Baker running into the area. Harry was too strong for his marker and then placed the ball wide of the keeper but just inside the post to make it 0-2 to the Gills.
In the very next minute Ben Thomson had a good chance to open his account but his header from a corner lacked pace and was collected easily by Tom Drewitt.
Melksham scored a well worked and spectacular goal on the 19 minute mark when a free kick found an unmarked Dan Kovacs on the left hand edge of the area. He headed the ball into the area in front of goal where Will Stead hit a superb volley that flashed past Jamie Beale in goal, giving him no chance and making it 1-2.
After this Melksham upped their game and came into the match more and it was them who had the next good chance when a shot from distance had to be tipped over the bar by Jamie Beale.
The last incident of note came just before the half hour mark when Aaron Rodriguez made a trade mark run into the left hand side of the box before laying the ball off to Harry Baker. Harry looked certain to score but his effort was deflected out for a corner by a last ditch block by a defender.
So at half time the Gills were leading 1-2 and looking comfortable but Melksham Town were gaining in confidence and getting into the game more and more.
The first chance of the second half came after 50 minutes with another run by Aaron Rodriguez and this time he took a shot himself, placing his curling effort just inside the post. However, Tom Drewitt pulled off a spectacular save to tip the ball round the post. The corner was taken by Aaron and floated to the back post, where Gary Bowles headed the ball back into the danger area. This was met by Nick Thomson who volleyed the ball into the back of the net from just outside the six yard box to make it 1-3.
Just before the hour mark Ben Thomson was brought down on the edge of the area and Gary Bowles took the kick which he sent towards the top right hand corner of the goal, but once again Tom Drewitt pulled off another fine save. 3 minutes later a defensive error let Lee Gale through on goal but his attempted chip over Tom Drewitt lacked height and the keeper just managed to get his fingers to the ball.
Melksham had their keeper to thank again 2 minutes later when he made another fine save, this time from a Harry Baker shot from the edge of the area.
With 69 minutes played a Melksham free kick dropped to the floor in the area and in the following goalmouth scramble four or five Melksham shots were blocked before the ball could be finally cleared.
Just after this Melksham wasted a golden opportunity to pull a goal back when an unpressured Adam Young blasted the ball over the bar from the area of the penalty spot.
In the first minute of additional time Lee Gale had the chance to double his tally when the Melksham defence stood still expecting a long ball to be collected by Tom Drewitt. Lee Gale though ran through and controlled the ball well but again his shot was saved well by Drewitt.
The game ended with a satisfying 1-3 victory for the Gills, a result which sees them remain at the top of the table and extends their unbeaten run to four games.
Man of the Match was Harry Baker.
Gills line-up: Beale, Murray, Smeeton, Compton, Thomson N, Bowles, Baker, Clarke, Gale, Thomson B (Cox 85), Rodriguez (Thompson 70). Unused subs: Sansom, Baker J, Foster.
