Melskham Town 1-0 Sholing

Scorers : Kyle Tooze 3

Date: Saturday 12th March 2022, 3pm – Southern League South Division 1

Venue:  Oakfield Stadium

Melksham Town: Emmanuel Idem, Will Christopher, Ryan Morgan ©, Jaiden Pearce, David Thompson, Matt Hurley, Aidan Chainey, Kyle Tooze (Ralph Graham 79), Jay Malshanskyj (Daniel McBeam 79), Sam Hendy (Luke Ballinger 90), Albert Hopkins.  Unused subs : Aaron Parsons, Zak Beard

Yellow Card: Emmanuel Idem
Red Card:
Ryan Morgan

Sholing: Ryan Gosney, Tomasz Gruzewski, Leo Taylor (Lochlan Colquhoun 58), Josh Batt (Owen Roundell 27), Dan Miller ©, Rob Nicholls, Stu Green (Ryan Cluett 46), Fawzi Saadi, Dan Mason, Conor Whiteley, Brad Targett.  Unused subs : Jack Mann & Luke Deacon

Yellow Card : Leo Taylor & Fawzi Saadi

Referee:  James Welsh  Assistants: Timothy Brunt & Lucas Bomela

Attendance: 407

Sholing slipped to our 4th defeat in 5 league games as we missed out on another opportunity to close the gap on the play off contenders.

Team News :  We were without Byron, Marv, Cope & Sami, so had two players at either end of their playing careers, making their Sholing debut.  17 year old Leo Taylor came in at left back and 37 year old Fawzi Saadi slotted into central midfield.  Tomasz started at right back and Conor Whiteley took the number 10 shirt.  Melksham were much changed from our game against them 2 weeks ago, including a new goalkeeper and the experienced goalscorer Kyle Tooze.

Sholing kicked off with a strong gusty wind at our backs, but made the worst possible start as Melksham took the lead on 3 minutes. Hopkins crossed from the left into the middle of the box where a first effort was missed, but Kyle Tooze was on hand to smash the ball into the roof of the net, for yet another goal against us by the striker.  

Incredibly, with just 5 minutes elapsed, the Melksham keeper started wasting time and had to be told to speed up by the referee multiple times.  We also lost count of the number of times his goalkicks went straight out of touch in front of the main stand as very little football was happening from either side.  Boatmen weren't doing well with the wind either, with a couple of corners & freekicks blown behind.  There was more bad news on the injury front when Josh Batt had to go off after 27 mins, with Owen Roundell coming on into defence.

On 35 mins, we created our best opportunity of the half when Dan Miller headed back into the middle of the area where Stu Green had a shot that was blocked near the line.  Finally the referee had enough of the Melskham's keeper time wasting and booked him just before half time, to bring a poor first 45 to an end.  HT 1-0

Cluett came on for Green for the restart. The wind had eased off a bit during the break and Melksham were presented with a chance to double their lead when Gosney's pass was intercepted, but the lofted effort towards the open goal went wide.   Boatmen had a strong shout for a penalty on 50 minutes when a goalbound shot hit the arm of a defender, but the referee waved it away.

Lochlan Colquhoun replaced Leo Taylor, who had acquitted himself well.  Melksham put a freekick into the box from the right with a player just unable to reach the ball at the far post. The home side then had loud appeals for a penalty turned down.   Sholing finally started ramping up some pressure with Ryan Cluett pushing forward from right back and putting some crosses into the area, but we were still not working the keeper.

On 72 minutes, Brad Targett was freed in behind, but as he was about to run into the penalty area, he was hauled down from behind, with Morgan receiving a straight red.  Fawzi put the 20 yard freekick into the wall.  With a man advantage, we pushed forward for an equaliser, had some scrambles in the box, but the big chance came and went on 85 minutes, when Dan Mason did well to cut past a defender to open up space for a left foot shot, that went agonisingly wide of the post.   D-Dan then was denied by the keeper with a flick header as the remaining time was eaten up by several Melksham players going down wanting treatment.  

A frustrating performance and result.  We still have games in hand to get into the play off positions, but realistically, we now have to go on an unbeaten run until the end of the season and win the majority of our remaining 10 matches.  FT 1-0

Next Game : Evesham United v Sholing - Southern League - Saturday 19 March 3pm

Photos courtesy of EspieJaz (swipe to view pics)