Willand made the journey through the middle of the Southwest as we filtered up to the Roman town of Melksham, which would set the scene for our latest Southern League clash.
Going into the game, David Steele had to make a few alterations to the starting XI as a result of skipper Jamie Richards still being out with his suspension and Ryan Guppy sidelined with an injury that he had suffered whilst playing in our last match against Bishops Cleeve. This saw Bailey Kempster in the defence with Harvey Dorothy moving into midfield.
Our opponents in Melksham Town have a chance at sneaking into the playoffs, and a win here would put them six points behind Exmouth Town, who currently occupy the last playoff spot.
Rovers started strongly as we kept possession and kept firing shots for the first twenty minutes. Both sides created chances in which the deadlock could have been breached but nothing concrete in the early stages.
Despite our early dominance, it would be the hosts who took the lead first with a goal from Henry Sady in the 20th minute as he nestled it into the bottom right. Just a minute later Melksham would have another; this time it came from Elliot Haffenden, in a similar fashion to the previous one but from the other side of the final third.
On the stroke of half-time Melksham would get a third with a throw-in coming from the left-hand side, a mixup at the back left Ross Edwards vulnerable to heading it past Burton to give the yellow and black army a cushioned lead.
Before the start of the second half, Steele brought his reinforcements directly with a triple substitution where Fin Rooke, Harvey Dorothy and Jack Kennell were subbed off to be replaced by Brandon Bak, Douglas Camilo and Jacob Wellington.
The second half gave a slightly improved performance for rovers with the team in good stead as we piled the pressure on again early on
As in the first half, Melksham found their form again, and they started controlling the game, keeping possession and creating chances.
A few more chances swung our way but the final touches were just missing to get back into the game. Watts-Barciela was the closest to finding the back of the net as he found himself through on goal, but the Melksham defence held firm and they kept a clean sheet as the game ended.
Full time at the Oakfield Stadium in Wiltshire, Melksham Town 3-0 Willand Rovers. A tough one to take but the hosts had their game plan set from Kick Off with all their goals and pressure coming in the first 45.
A draw for Helston means we go into Wednesday against fellow relegation-fighting team Shaftesbury with one point above the relegation zone.
#WeAreRovers
