Corsham Town 2, Melksham Town 0 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Corsham Town 2, Melksham Town 0

COLIN Bush has moved quickly to strengthen his squad this week as he refuses to rest on his laurels after a good start to the Premier Division campaign.

The Corsham boss revealed he has put in seven days' notice of approach for Chard midfielder Simon Farrell, after watching his side dominate Tuesday night's derby against Melksham to make it four points from their first two games.

He has also revealed he could be set to bring a striker to the club in the near future, but was not prepared to release the name of his target.

First half strikes from Jamie Lyons and the flu-hit Toby Colbourne were enough to seal the points, but Bush admitted afterwards he was concerned about his squad's strength in depth.

Midfielder Gary Blackwood is currently away on holiday and Bush is worried a long list of absentees over the next six weeks could cause disruption.

He said: "We have players going away on holiday over the next month and it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a decent sized squad in this league with the number of clubs around.

"We are trying to bring the youngsters through now. James Ford made his debut on Tuesday and James West will be at Bishop's Cleeve on Saturday, but if we got a few injuries we would be quite light on numbers.

"Simon Farrell played for Frome for a while and is a good player. I hope to talk to him in the next couple of days."

Jamie Lyons was given a rare start on Tuesday, in place of Jerad O'Pray, and he took full advantage by giving the hosts the lead just five minutes in, with a powerful strike from the edge of the area.

Corsham continued to push and Toby Colbourne prodded home Scott Lye's pull back to double their lead on 25 minutes. John Eldred, Lye and Colbourne all squandered further chances as Corsham underlined their superiority.

Melksham gave a better account after the break but it was Corsham who still enjoyed all the pressure and had it not been for wasteful finishing would have beaten their rivals more convincingly.

Bush said: "Jamie Lyons was a youth player last season. Now he is a senior player and took the chance that was given to him last night. He played very well for the first 15 minutes but then perhaps faded a bit out of the game. Still he put us on the way to victory and has the pace and skill to make an impact.

"I thought they were very brave to play a 3-5-2 formation and we managed to expose them down the wings a lot. Fair play to them though, they kept battling and I am sure they will improve."

Corsham travel to Bishop's Cleeve tomorrow in the qualifying round of the FA Cup.