Wells dumped out of Vase

Wells City were unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Vase, after a late, late equaliser from Melksham took the game into extra time, and the Wiltshire side completed the job, winning by the odd goal in three.
The pitch was in good condition, but rock hard, and more akin to a pitch at the start of the season with high uneven bounces making flowing football a premium. The game developed into a contest of two styles. City attempting to get the ball on the deck and pass the ball around to create opportunities, whilst Melksham took ‘route one’ football to another level, and based their game on long punts down field to the tall figures of their twin strikers Dan Kovacs and Gary Higdon. With the swirling wind in their favour during the opening half, the tactics proved successful in putting City on the defensive, but the Blues backline of Josh White, Jamie Gowers and Ben Robertson coped admirably, with White in particular putting in an outstanding performance and earning himself the man of the match accolade.
The first half was a fairly non eventful affair with the ball too often in the ait to entertain the crowd although Steve Murray had a glorious chance to score on the half hour, but shot wide, whilst Higdon had a good header wells saved by Owen Dunn just before the break.
The second period was only in its third minute when City took the lead. Now attacking the Rugby End, Murray was released by Mat Hurley, and the striker needed no further invitation to outpace his marker and plant the ball safely in the back of the net for a fine strike.
As with the first half, the two styles of play was not conducive to entertaining football, with the ball being in the air for to long a period, although the home side did get the ball in the net on the hour, but the flag went up long before Kovacs put the ball in the back of the net.
With the game entering its final minute the game exploded into life when Melksham were awarded a corner kick. With the referee deep in conversation with the Wells players, the ball was floated over for substitute Matt Cooper to head home. Wells complained, and Mark Randall was shown the Red Card for protesting too strongly, soon to be followed down the tunnel by father Paul as the chaotic incident continued. When tempers had calmed, the final whistle was blown and the game was taken to an additional 30 minutes.
A fairly uneventful first 15 minutes ensued although both sides had opportunities to score with City sub Toby Cole guilty of not doing better when through on goal, and Dunn having to be at his best to keep a strong Melksham effort at bay.
The decisive moment game with 4 minutes remaining. A deep cross to Higdon at the far stick, saw the striker return the ball across the goal with an excellent looping header which evaded the stationary Dunn.
Melksham were delighted to get their name in the hat for the next round of the competition, whilst City were left to lick their wounds and concentrate on climbing the league.