Corsham Town snatched defeat from the

jaws of victory last night at the Southbank as bitter local rivals

Melksham Town came from a goal down in the final few minutes to

secure a 2-1 win in this Western Premier League fixture.

Corsham started the brighter of the two

sides and were rewarded for their inventive play midway through the

first half when captain Craig Gingell towered above the Melksham

defence to power home Matthew Jenkins' corner from six yards. As half

time arrived, Melksham had little to show for their efforts as

Corsham went in a goal to the good.

However, with the away goalkeeper, and

former Corsham number one, Luke McFarlane in continuing impressive

form in the second half, Corsham found it difficult to add to their

lead, with McFarlane most notably making a smart save from Simon Gray

when the home striker found himself one on one with the keeper.

With Corsham, as they so often do,

beginning to look shaken as they try to hang on to a slim lead with

time running out, Melksham sensed that their chance to bring parity

to the match was coming, and, when it came, grabbed it with both

hands as they forced a scrappy equaliser with only a few minutes

remaining.

And, when home goalkeeper Nick Gingell,

who, despite the late Melksham onslaught, played another assured game

between the posts for Corsham, could only parry a difficult shot into

the path of the oncoming Melksham striker with one minute to go, he

was left with the easiest of tap ins to send the Melksham players and

officials into overdrive, with their celebrations worthy of a team

that had just won the World Cup final on penalties.

Corsham will certainly look back on

this game with a sense of “what could have been”, and will now be

looking to pick up that elusive first three points in their next

league game, a week Saturday at home to Street.