Exmouth Town continue great escape in Southern League

The opening ten minutes in their game against Melksham Town were a cagy affair before Town began to exert pressure and after Ben Steer had twice tested the ‘keeper, he opened the scoring on 21 minutes.

A lofted pass from Jacob Mead was headed down by Ace High for Steer to touch the ball into the back of the net.

Melksham responded well and Benjani Jnr, the son of the professional player with Manchester City amongst other Football League clubs, currently on loan from Yeovil Town, started to cause problems with his pace and control.

After Mike Landricombe had made one important stop, the player was not to be denied and taking advantage of some hesitant defending, he raced clear to firmly drill the ball home.

Level at the break, Town quickly asserted themselves at the start of the second half and after a couple of half chances had failed to trouble the ‘keeper, it was the combination of Mead and High that once again led to a goal.

After a ball inside by High to Aarron Denny, who was crudely brought down, Joe Belsten stepped up to hammer home the resulting penalty.

The one controversial moment of the game came when Benjani thought he had levelled the scores when he tapped home at the far post but was denied by the assistant’s flag being raised for offside, a decision not met with approval by the Melksham players and management!

Callum Shipton had a glorious opportunity to make the game safe but, as the heavy pitch had begun to cut up, the ball bobbled and his shot cleared the crossbar.

As Town tried to run down the clock, Melksham created one final opportunity but Wright was equal to it, as Exmouth made it three wins and a draw from their last four matches.

This Saturday, Town travel to Salisbury-based Bemerton Heath Harlequins, who have ambitions of reaching the play-offs and were involved in a cliffhanger themselves on Saturday, drawing 4-4 at Town’s main rivals to avoid relegation, Paulton Rovers.