DARREN Perrin was delighted to see his Melksham Town side return to the summit of the Toolstation League Premier Division on Tuesday, despite the absence of nine first-team players.

A decimated Melksham were missing Dean Flockton, Alex Hillier, Luke Smith, Dave Thompson, Ben Thomson, Dan King, Gary Higdon, Will Stead and Dan Griffiths for their midweek trip to Brislington but Perrin’s men still had enough about them to take all three points and edge back ahead of top-of-the-table rivals Bristol Manor Farm.

Sean Bryant, Dan Kovacs and Jack Morris netted to put the visitors in control and despite his team having their lead cut back to a single goal in the second period, Perrin was thrilled with Melksham’s display of strength-in-depth.

“For the first 60 minutes, it was arguably our best performance of the season,” said the Town boss.

“We looked a little bit tired towards the end and the game was in a little bit of danger when the temperature dropped and the ground got a bit crusty but we’d done more than enough to get the result.

“We had players missing through injury and work commitments and we had a 17-year-old (Will Thomson) on the bench and three or four lads from the reserves in the side.

“It was a great result for us and we’ll be looking to try and get another one on Saturday when Bristol Manor Farm are playing in the Les Phillips Cup and we go to Winterbourne United.

“But we never seem to do well on that 3G pitch.

“We lost their last season and we have to be ready for a difficult game but at least we know that the match will be on and we don’t have to worry about the weather forecast.”

On Saturday, top-scorer Higdon fired in his 27th goal of the season as Melksham beat Sherborne Town 1-0 at the Conigre.

The stirker is expected to return for this weekend’s trip to second-from-bottom Winterbourne United, alongside King, Griffiths and Ben Thomson.

Smith and Thompson are still around a week away from returning to fitness but Hillier could yet be in line to come back into the side.