Portishead Town 4 Melksham Town 0

By Hugo Richards / 7th September

Posset came into this cup tie off the back off a good 2-0 away win against Bashley and looked to carry their momentum forward. Portishead were considered favourites to win against an out of form Melksham side and these expectations were exceeded.

Lucas Vowles came close to scoring the first goal early doors with his header being flicked onto the bar via an Ethan Feltham cross. Shortly after Feltham would be involved in another attack after Kyle Egan slipped him through on goal, but his shot was tame and saved by the Melksham keeper. Portishead would open the flood gates in the 25th minute with Jamie Adams heading in a Jay Murray cross at the back post to make it 1-0. Murray’s crossing continued to cause chaos in the Melksham box when the ball found Lucas Vowles’ head and he guided it in past the keeper to make it 2-0. Posset showed no mercy and Vowles beat a Melksham defender with classy skills and fired the ball into the bottom left corner with the outside of his boot, leaving the poor Melksham keeper no chance, 3-0. Feltham almost made it four just before the half ended when he span his defender in the box and hit the ball onto the inner up right and an unfortunate bounce kept the ball out of the net.

Ollie Riddoch Photography

The second half saw more dominance from Portishead as Melksham scrambled to keep Posset from scoring. Vowles would come close on the hour mark after bringing the ball down in a packed Melksham box but his shot was kept out by the keeper. Another Portishead cross caused trouble but this time it was Jay Murray getting his head on it after Vowles drilled the ball into the box, however Murray couldn’t quite connect correctly with his head and sent it wide. In the 80th minute substitute, Jake Packham, came close when his shot was saved after a Murray through ball. A few minutes later Packham would get his goal after he fired in a good ball from Kyle Egan, making the score 4-0 to Portishead. Melksham hit the bar in the last minute, with their first real chance of the game. This is all credit to an incredibly solid and confident Portishead backline to get another clean sheet.

The Southern League Division One South is back in action, with Posset travelling down to Winchester for what should be a great day for football next weekend. Portishead are through to qualifying round two of the Isuzu FA Trophy. With such a dominant performance just how far can this team go?

Thank you to Ollie Riddoch Photography for the images.