A FEW choice words at half-time from Melksham Town manager Darren Perrin were what was needed for his side to run out 3-0 winners against Westbury United.

The hosts went down to 10 men after 35 minutes of the Wiltshire Senior Cup tie when Josh Ferguson picked up a second yellow card but were able to hold on until half-time with the scores level.

However, just two minutes after the break, Gary Higdon put the Premier Division side ahead before doubling his tally in the 55th minute.

The number of players on the pitch was levelled up in the 75th minute when Warren Maidment was shown a straight red for a reckless tackle on his full debut, but that didn’t halt Melksham as Will Stead wrapped up the scoring with five minutes to go.

“It was everything I expected it to be. It was a game not very high on quality and we weren’t very good first half,” said Perrin.

“Westbury lifted their game by playing us but they didn’t cause us many problems.

“Once we stepped up the tempo in the second half, we ran out comfortable winners.

“Gary Higdon is just Gary Higdon. There is not much more I need to say about him. Even when he is not playing particularly well, he scores goals.

“It is also nice that Saturday gave us a chance to rest Dave Thompson, Mike Perrott, Ryan Bennett and Dan Kovacs to give others much-needed minutes.”

Melksham now face Gillingham Town on Sunday as part of a ‘Ground Hoppers’ event, which should draw a big crowd to the Conigre.

“We’re anticipating a very large crowd and their results have picked up since the ex-Frome manager, Adi Foster, has gone back there,” added Perrin.

“It will be another tough game and it is a game we look forward to.

“We know we must play a lot better than we did Saturday if we want to get a result and maintain our excellent run of form at the moment.”