MELKSHAM Town proved that the destination of the Toolstation Premier Division title is not a forgone conclusion just yet as they became just the second team to beat leaders Bristol Manor Farm in the league this season on Monday night.

It remains a long shot for Darren Perrin’s side to overhaul the Bristolians at the summit as they are still 12 points back in third-place but Melksham at least showed that they will go down swinging after claiming a 2-1 success at Oakfields.

In front of a bumper crowd of 489 supporters, Dan Demkiv put the home side ahead at the break before doubling the advantage with his second of the game just after the hour mark.

Peter Sheppard pulled a goal back for the visitors with 15 minutes to go but their challenge faded when they were reduced to 10 men after Lloyd Mills was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

Perrin hailed the depth of the Melksham squad after they were forced to take on the leaders without several key players, although a bad injury to midfielder Mike Perrott took some of the gloss off the result.

“Monday night was all the more pleasing considering we were without the likes of Gary Higdon, Sam Jordan, Luke Ballinger and a few others. The lads who came in and stepped up all did a fantastic job and it was a great result,” said Perrin.

“There were two good sides playing in front of 500 people on a Monday night, so it was a great advert for the league.

“The only downside was the really nasty injury suffered by Mike Perrott. He didn’t get home from the RUH in Bath until about 3am on Tuesday morning having had 14 stitches in a gash.

“How it was only seen as a yellow card challenge is beyond me but I don’t want to dwell on that – I’d rather dwell on the fact it was a really good game that we managed to come out the right side of.”

For Melksham, it was a second victory in the space of three days as they also progressed to the third round of the Les Phillips Cup with a 3-2 success away at First Division side Warminster Town.

Jake Hiscocks, Joe Stradling and Leigh Rogers were all on target for Perrin’s men on a boggy Weymouth Road pitch, while Francois Allen and Dan Jordan replied for Warminster.

Perrin said: “Saturday was a war of attrition. It was a game that never should have been played. The pitch was unbelievably bad and the worst I have seen in 30 or 40 years of being involved in football.

“It made trying to play football very, very difficult, but we worked hard and in the end. We were just pleased to get through it.”

Elsewhere, Westbury United saw their Les Phillips Cup aspirations come to an end as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Willand Rovers.

Bradford Town were without a fixture altogether at the weekend.