An outstanding afternoon for Westbury United as this victory at Melksham took them to their highest Southern League points tally in the four seasons since promotion.
Westbury dominated the match from start to finish, scoring a goal early in each half, while Melksham resorted to cynical tactics culminating in a late red card for Ralph Graham.
The opening goal came on eight minutes; a counter-attack down the left wing led to Josh Jenkins playing the ball in to Brad Selwood who applied a confident finish!
In between a series of late challenges by home players Westbury continued to create chances with some lovely quick moves. Cole Fleming forced Adam Forster into a save then Ben Starr’s cross-shot clipped the crossbar!
Keane Ashwood was impressing again and a well delivered set piece looked certain to result in a goal; however Tyreese Carter’s header was cleared off the line by Mark Cooper!
Ashwood then hit the defensive wall with a free kick and on the rebound Jack Witcombe struck a rasping low 30 yarder that flew just wide!
Town finally had an attack which saw a few efforts blocked then strong defending by Dan Restorick forced the ball away.
Selwood and Jenkins attacked and Forster clattered into Selwood just outside the penalty area and was shown a yellow card.
Cooper came close to snatching an equaliser when he connected with a long throw in but his volley rebounded off the crossbar!
Just before the break home manager Kieran Baggs was shown a red card for dissent from the bench, quite how he had reason to berate the officiating which had been lenient to his tactics is a mystery.
The hosts made a triple substitution at half-time but it made no difference as Westbury got off to a flying start and doubled their lead on 47; great work by Bevan Cross set up Starr who swivelled and struck the ball into the net!
More lovely football by Cross, Fleming, Selwood and Starr allowed Cross an attempt that was blocked.
Melksham had a spell of corners which were all cleared by the strong away back line then Jamal Lawrence played in a fine cross which Carter dealt with.
Efforts at either end by Selwood and Elliott Haffenden didn’t cause problems for either keeper while Joel Manning commanded his box at several corners.
A long spell of away team possession ended with Ryan Bole flashing the ball across the box then Ethan Witchell, during another assured performance from the left back, went on a fine run that saw another shot blocked.
Bole struck a shot from 20 yards that forced Forster into a save and into the last 10 minutes the home side resorted to desperate shots to try to rescue their relegation battle.
Graham lost his head in added time and kicked the ball at Witcombe who was already led on the ground. The ball hit the Westbury’s captain’s head and Graham was sent off!
Star Team; Westbury United, it would be wrong to single out any individual player
Team: Joel Manning, Tyreese Carter, Dan Restorick, Jack Witcombe, Keane Ashwood, Brad Selwood, Ben Starr, Ethan Witchell, Bevan Cross, Cole Fleming, Josh Jenkins. Subs: CJ Stewart, Ryan Bole, Will Turner, Jamie Jordan (used) Steve Hulbert (unused)
Report: Andy Bown
