BOTH Melksham Town and Bradford Town will be hoping to extend their stay in the FA Vase in this weekend’s third round ties.

Darren Perrin’s Melksham will travel to Sydenhams Wessex League side Bemerton Heath Harlequins, while Bradford will play host to South West Peninsula League Premier Division team Torpoint Athletic.

Perrin admits his side will have to up their game if they are to get a result after they were dumped out of the Wiltshire Senior Cup by Laverstock & Ford 4-1 on Tuesday, Mike Perrott scoring for Melksham.

“They’re (Bemerton) a good side. The game is certainly 50-50 and we will look to improve on what we did in the week,’’ said Perrin.

“I’d like to think the players are hurting a little bit and that there will be a backlash, but we’ll see. It’s a big game and a chance to get into the last 32 of a national competition and we are desperate to try and do well.”

Bradford manager Danny Greaves says the postponement of their Wiltshire Senior Cup game against Royal Wootton Bassett Town on Wednesday could work in their favour, as they will have no injury concerns.

“It’s the second week running that we have had our (midweek) game postponed, we have a bit of a backlog of games to be completed in December,” said Greaves, whose side defeated Gillingham Town 2-1 in the Toolstation League Premier Division on Saturday with goals from Martin Lenihan and Karim Rendall.

“When the first game was cancelled last week, my initial fear was that we had a game two days before our Vase game.

“We have quite a small squad so with respect to that, it is a bonus, but it puts pressure on the next few weeks.

“We haven’t actually been to watch them (Torpoint Athletic) but we have a lot of reports so we’ve done our homework.

“It’s going to be a tough game, they’ve knocked out a couple of sides from our game already. We understand they’re a well-organised and physical side.

“They have a bit of pace up front, but if we do play like we have done, we have enough to beat them.”