Clevedon Town arrived at Melksham’s recently opened Oakfield Stadium with 2 new recruits in Jack Boughton from Longwell Green and local lad Joe Hance on work experience from Cheltenham Town.

On a bitterly cold afternoon with snow in the air the first chance fell to the home side on 12 minutes when a 1-2 between Mathew Rose and Mike Perrott saw the latter shoot wide.

Clevedon created a good chance in the 22nd minute when a long ball forward caused problems for the home defence. Keeper Rob Brown rushed out to the edge of his box and jumped to block the ball under pressure from James Fisher but missed it. Unfortunately James Fisher slipped and couldn’t regain his feet to get to the ball before left-back Lee Davidson got around to cover and clear the danger.

On 23 minutes a dangerous cross from Ben Thomson was missed by skipper Gary Higdon when well placed.

The game turned decisively in the home team’s favour in the 25th minute when Clevedon were reduced to 10 men. A long ball forward was chased by Gary Higdon and Glen Hayer raced across and challenged the Melksham man with both players finishing in a heap on the ground. Much to the annoyance of the Clevedon bench the referee deemed that it was a foul and as the last man he was sent off when it had appeared that Glen had got a touch on the ball and a corner should have been the correct decision.

Melksham took the lead on 28 minutes when a corner from the right by Ben Thomson was met at the near post by Mike Perrot whose headed flick nestled into the far corner of the net to make the score 1-0.

Melksham created a chance in the 31st minute when a cross from Ben Thomson was headed wide by Luke Ballinger.

Things got worse for Clevedon on 43 minutes when keeper Sam Burgess went over on his ankle while clearing the ball and had to be replaced by substitute Alex White who took over in goal.

Almost immediately Alex had to be alert to clear the danger when in the 1st minute of stoppage time he saved a shot from Sammy Jordan with his feet.

Melksham doubled their lead in the 6th minute of stoppage time when Lee Davidson sent a free-kick into the box and Gary Higdon rose highest to head the ball home to make the score 2-0.

Half Time: Melksham Town 2 Clevedon Town 0

In the 1st minute of the second half Melksham nearly went further ahead when Gary Higdon turned in the box and blasted the ball off the crossbar.

Clevedon managed their first shot on target on 53 minutes when the ball was played down the right to James Fisher who cut inside and laid the ball back to substitute Joe Hance whose shot was deflected over the bar.

Melksham went further ahead in the 56th minute in a carbon copy of their second goal. A free-kick was played into the box by Lee Davidson and this time it was Sammy Jordan who rose highest to nod the ball past Alex White and make the score 3-0.

Joe Hance was starting to make his presence felt in the Clevedon midfield and on 59 minutes his run and shot saw the ball go just wide of the post.

The luck that had deserted Clevedon was in evidence again in the 61st minute when a blocked shot fell to Sammy Jordan and he stroked the ball home to make the score 4-0.

On 74 minutes a James Fisher run down the right saw him cut inside the box and unleash a shot that was saved comfortably by Rob Brown and he repeated the feat 5 minutes later from Jake Harris’s 25-yard attempt.

Sammy Jordan missed the chance to complete his hat-trick in the 81st minute when he somehow contrived to miss an open goal.

Jake Harris created a good chance for Sam Downe on 86 minutes but his shot went just wide.

Sammy Jordan crossed the ball from the right in the 89th minute and found substitute Joe Stradling unmarked at the far post who made the score 5-0.

Straight from the restart the ball was played forward for Gary Higdon to score again and make the final score 6-0.

The score failed to reflect the effort that Clevedon had put into the game and they will have the opportunity to bounce back next Wednesday when they visit Cadbury Heath with a 7:30 pm kick-off.

Full Time: Melksham Town 6 Clevedon Town 0

Attendance: 279

Clevedon Town Line-up:

1. Sam Burgess
2. Tyler Ashmead
3. Sam Downe
4. Callum Kingdon
5. Glen Hayer
6. Kaine Gazzard
7. James Fisher
8. Kevin Camargo (c)
9. Isaac Reid
10. Jake Harris
11. Jack Boughton

12. Ryan Gissing
14. Toby Yeates
15. Alex Camm
16. Alex White replaced Sam Burgess on 43 minutes
17. Joe Hance replaced Isaac Reid on 46 minutes

Clevedon Town Man of the Match: James Fisher