MELKSHAM Town’s Dave Thompson says that he and his team-mates have had to deal with the ugly truth and leave their promotion woes behind them ahead of the new season.

Last term, Melksham won the Toolstation League Premier Division but were denied promotion to the Southern League, something that left Thompson and co with a ‘hangover’ when they returned for pre-season earlier this summer.

But the defender admitted that his team had no choice but to put their pain to the back of their minds and club together as they prepare for another tilt at the top of the table and elevation to the next level.

“When we all came back, we all had a bit of a hangover after what had happened,” said Thompson.

“It was such an up to win the league but such a down at the same time not to get promoted. We all felt like we should have been coming back to prepare for a season in the Southern League.

“It has been hard and a few people were thinking differently, thinking that they may not be there every week this season.

“It was hard because I know everyone from the team as mates too but we’ve had to just put it in the past and move on. We had to get over it.

“We know that we’ve got to try and go out there and do it all again. It’s going to be tough because we’re going to be a scalp now. Every team is going to want to beat us and that’s a fact.

“But that’s the way it is and we’ll have to deal with that.

“As players, we go into every game trying to win it, whether it be a league game, an FA Cup game or a Wiltshire Senior Cup game, and we want to win the league again – the club aren’t putting any pressure on us to do that but we’ve decided that’s what we want to do.

“Last year, we didn’t even look at the league table until February and that’s when we realised ‘oh, we’ve got a chance’.”

Melksham topped the Premier Division table by five points last season and after being denied promotion following a delay to the construction of their new Woolmore Farm home, they ironically start the season against another team that has suffered through ground troubles.

Tomorrow, they host Clevedon Town, who were booted out of the league above after the floodlights at the Hand Stadium failed the required lighting tests set out by the Southern League.