MANAGER Kieran Baggs hailed the professionalism of his Melksham Town players after they scored a perfect 10 goals without reply in an emphatic win at Wells City in Toolstation Premier Division at the weekend.

Melksham were given the initiative after just seven minutes in Somerset when Wells’ Jamie Coombs was shown a straight red card for a foul in the box, allowing Gary Higdon to break the deadlock from the spot as the striker got the first of a four-goal personal haul.

The visitors were already 5-0 in front by the time the half-time whistle sounded and there was no let up after the break as Baggs’ men matched that effort in the second period.

Luke Ballinger also bagged a hat-trick, with efforts from Warren Maidment, Dan Demkiv and Tyler Sibbick completing the rout for Melksham against a Wells side sitting second from bottom in the table.

“I can’t say anything other than the lads were absolutely fantastic,” said Baggs.

“You look at the league table and think it’s one we should win but other teams have gone there this season and struggled, so you still have to put in a performance.

“We got off to the best possible start by going 1-0 up after only a few minutes and unfortunately they went down to 10 men too so that did have a bit of an impact on the game.

“We still have a job to do and it does make the team talk at half-time a bit difficult because the game is already won but the lads went out in the second half and their attitude was superb.”

Melksham are currently sixth in the table, seven points behind leaders Street, and Baggs does not think expectations around the club should be significantly raised despite the landslide win.

“I’m sure it is a result that other teams will take notice of but there have been scores like that already this season – I think Willand won a game 11-0 – so one-sided scores are not as uncommon as you’d think,” said Baggs.

“For us, we are going the right way and it’ll be great for our confidence and morale and we’ll just look to take that into the next game.

“We are where we are supposed to be at moment and that’s around fifth or sixth place because we just don’t have the budget to compete with some of the other teams.

“I sit down regularly with the chairman (Darren Perrin) and the board but we know that this is the reason we might feel a little bit short.

“We have to keep plugging away and hopefully once we’re into the new year, we are still in a strong position.

“You never know if other clubs then might have a bit of a dip so we will just see what happens.”

Melksham have no game this weekend and are next in action when they host Mere Town in the Wiltshire Senior Cup on Monday, October 16.