Gamlingay Utd 3 Melbourn 2MELBOURN were left counting the cost of three first half mistakes in their defeat at Gamlingay, but overall it was a much improved performance from Mick Walker's men.Melbourn began on the offensive and had their hosts under pre

Gamlingay Utd 3 Melbourn 2

MELBOURN were left counting the cost of three first half mistakes in their defeat at Gamlingay, but overall it was a much improved performance from Mick Walker's men.

Melbourn began on the offensive and had their hosts under pressure, but a speculative clearance was missed at the heart of Melbourn's defence and the Gamlingay forward strolled through to finish comfortably inside five minutes.

Moments later Gamlingay were two up in identical fashion but 10 minutes into the game and two nil down was an unfair reflection of the opening exchanges, with Melbourn the far stronger team.

Melbourn began to take control of the game again with Ben Fox and Michael Wagstaff the stand-out men in the first half, but Andy Richardson was forced to retire early due to injury and had to be replaced by Chaz Hassan.

On 40 minutes, however, the visitors gave away a third when having caught Melbourn in possession Gamlingay broke quickly and finished to put themselves three up.

Melbourn rallied and pulled one back through captain Jason Gray who finished off a long Steve Fosker free kick, but at the break they were 3-1 down.

The second half started in much the same way as the first, with Melbourn on the attack and with Ash Bryan comfortably in control of their defence they were able to press high up the field.

Midway through the half and a simple ball by Hassan from out wide led to Ben Wright racing clear unchallenged and he finished calmly to bring the deficit down to one.

As the half drew on, Gamlingay felt they should have had a fourth with the ball seemingly crossing the line only for both linesman and referee to miss it.

In the closing moments Melbourn felt they had also scored again as Ben Wright closed down the keeper's clearance before Lee Edmans helped the ball over the line.

The passage of play, however, resulted not in a goal but in a correctly judged offside call.

Melbourn will feel this was an opportunity missed to state an early case for promotion, however they can take heart that they will not meet many more resilient teams than Gamlingay.