JAMIE Harrison starred for Melksham on Saturday as they cruised through to the second round of the Wiltshire Senior Cup against an injury hit Stratton.

The former Corsham Town midfielder scored twice and was at the heart of all the hosts' best moves as they eventually outclassed their Wiltshire League opponents.

But for large spells in the first half Stratton more than matched their opponents and it was not until an injury reduced them to 10 men their resilience broke.

Melksham took the lead after two minutes when young striker Ollie Gee took advantage of Robin Broadbanks' slip to score from just inside the area. Broadbanks then miskicked in front of goal while former Melksham striker Jimmy Wright saw an effort well saved by Melksham keeper Gareth Evans.

After 30 minutes player manager Tony Dwyer replaced the injured Warwick Burnett and 10 minutes later Melksham were 2-0 up through Jamie Cheeseman.

Injuries forced Stratton into a reshuffle at the break and with Ricky Mazzotta unable to continue they had to play a man short.

Melksham took full advantage with Harrison (2), Owen Bryan and Carl Harfield scoring.

Manager Nigel Tripp said: "We didn't start very well but in the second half I thought we played some quite good football."