MELKSHAM Town chairman Dave Wiltshire wants his team to claim the Toolstation Premier Division title after confirming they will not be promoted this season.

A delay to the building of the club’s new ground means Town will remain at the Conigre for next season.

Work is expected to begin at the new facility, near Melksham Oak School, shortly but it will not be ready for the club to move into until the 2016-17 campaign.

The club will not be permitted to join the Southern League as a result as the Conigre does not meet the required criteria for that level of football.

Darren Perrin’s team are guaranteed a top-two finish this season as they currently sit top of the table with two games to go and Wiltshire says being crowned champions would at least provide them with some consolation.

“We have had a lot of help from the FA in trying to extend our timeframe but it just hasn’t worked out,” said Wiltshire.

“We’ve made every effort to try and get promoted but it’s just not going to happen this year, unfortunately.

“I feel so disappointed for our players and our manager because they’ve been fantastic this season.

“At worst we can finish runners-up and that is already the highest finish in our history, which is an amazing achievement.

“The next thing is, can we win the league? If we can it would be unbelievable. We are in a two-horse race with Buckland Athletic and I really think we deserve to do it.

“In hindsight, if six months ago we’d known we were going to be in this fantastic position in the league, maybe we would have done the necessary upgrades to the Conigre so we could be promoted this season.

“But that would only ever have been temporary as we still need a new ground.

“The positive thing is that hopefully the work will start on the new ground in a few weeks’ time and then come the season after next, we will have a fantastic new facility that even teams at a level above would be envious of.”

Wiltshire says the quest for promotion will start again next season but he says boss Perrin will not be changing his approach in a desire to get back in the fast lane to success.

“The players are obviously gutted by the news but we warned them a few weeks ago that it might not happen,” added Wiltshire.

“One thing I do know is that our manager will do whatever he can to try and get us to a level of football worthy of that new facility.

“But we will keep doing it our way with local players from the area. We won’t throw money at it and we will carry on working as we have always done because we know we can have success this way.”