Sarum seniors started their new season on Saturday with a step up in class as they are now in the Wilts Prem and put in an excellent performance to come away with a point from a very strong and powerful Melksham side.
Sarum did not start that well and were a bit sloppy by giving the ball away which led to the home side taking the lead after five mins with the ball just about scrambling over the line despite Chris Browns best efforts to keep it out. Sarum settled into the game after the goal and started to play some good football which led to a fantastic equaliser. Some slick passing found Dan Paddington wide who burst passed defenders to cross for Archie Lovegrove who shrugged off a defender to smash in from close range. The second half continued in the same vain with it being a very tight game. The home side had more chances on goal but Chris Brown was in fine form and made some fine saves. Lovegrove nearly put Sarum in front late on with a great free kick but the home keeper made a tremendous save and Paddington also went close. The last ten minutes saw Sarum hang on to what they had as Melksham pushed hard for a winner but some brave and superb defending especially from Pete Fletcher and Josh Hockey ensured Sarum started off their campaign with a tremendous away point which they well deserved.
Rawkins....” Really pleased with the young boys. It was a great point and real confidence boost for them to prove that they are more than capable of playing at this level. We did not play our usual flowing football but I cannot fault the effort put in by every player. We had to dig in at the end but so proud of the way they stood up to everything that Melksham could throw at them and got their deserved point for a great start to what will be an exciting season for all of us.
