A DEPLETED squad is the reason behind Melksham Town’s recent slump in form according to manager Keiran Baggs.

With 10 games already played, Baggs has guided his team to four wins, three draws and three defeats.

Saturday saw his side lead 3-1 with 20 minutes to go against Street thanks to a Joe Stradling strike and a Dan Demkiv double at Oakfields before being held to a 3-3 draw. While on Tuesday night, a mistake from goalkeeper Rob Brown cost them a share of the points against Brislington Town after Tyler Sibbick equalised in what turned out to be a 2-1 away defeat “We dropped points on Saturday for sure, we were two goals up and only had 20 minutes left to go,” said Baggs.

“I would have definitely taken a point against Street with the amount of players we have got missing at the moment.

“Tuesday was a battle against the elements and it was difficult to actually play football.

“September is going to be a tough month, there are probably six or seven players who are injured, away on holiday or just unavailable.

“It’s all come at once, so it will be tough until the end of the month, but hopefully when things get better towards October, we will do a bit better.”

Saturday sees Melksham host Willand Rovers, and manager Baggs is braced for another tough outing as Luke Ballinger, Gary Higdon, Dave Thompson, Michael Perrott, Alex Grimshaw, Jake Brown and Ben Thompson are all ruled out of contention.

“This weekend we’ve got Willand - the games don’t get any easier.” Baggs said.

“Hopefully the boys can put in a good performance as the underdogs. Because at the moment, we are the underdogs on recent form and league standings.”