Brislington 1 Melksham Town 1 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Brislington 1 Melksham Town 1

9:41am Thursday 23rd March 2006 in Football By Gazette Sport Reporter

Toolstation Premier Division

MELKSHAM boss Kelvin Highmore said relegation fears have eased at the club following their recent run of good form.

Saturday's draw at Brislington stretched Melksham's unbeaten run to four games and has lifted them clear of the bottom two sides.

Highmore said his team, who were due to be playing in the Premier Division at Hallen last night, should not be worrying about what's going on below them, but focusing on the sides ahead.

"In my heart of hearts I think only one team will go down and I'm fairly confident we won't be that one," he said.

"It's given me a lot of pleasure to see the average age on Saturday was about 19 and those youngsters are producing.

"We're not leaving ourselves so exposed at the back and we've added that little bit of protection.

"I'm pleased and it's given us something to push on with.

"If someone had offered me a point before Saturday I would probably have ripped their arm off, but afterwards I was wondering how we didn't get all three.

"Overall, it was pleasing, because the lads coming in did a job. I'm quite happy with the squad I've got now.

"We're slowly whittling it down to the players who really want to play for the club."

Highmore was forced to field a patched-up side, with three players away on county duty, while they were also missing Paul Haynes in goal, Luke Ballinger, Lee Beavis and Josh Brigham.

Playing into a stiff wind in the first half, Melksham gave away a soft goal after 12 minutes.

Hesitation in the defence allowed a long ball to drop behind and a quick cross was headed in at the back post.

Despite the conditions, Melksham became the superior side, but could not force an equaliser before the break.

Following the interval, they again did well to keep the ball on the floor, but it wasn't until the 80th minute that Tim Etough's wonder goal rescued a point.

A corner was scrambled away by Brislington, but dropped to the Melksham player 25 yards from goal and his volley rocketed past the keeper.

Melksham host Bitton on Saturday as they begin a run of four league games at home.