MELKSHAM Town boss Kieran Baggs has taken responsibility after his side lost their first league game in over 100 days last Saturday.

Baggs opted to make four changes to the team who were triumphant over Bradford Town on Boxing Day, as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Chipping Sodbury Town.

“I must take a little bit of responsibility for it because of team selection,” he said.

“We have had a busy schedule over Christmas and we didn’t have any games called off, so the squad was stretched.

“I tried to rest Luke Ballinger, Dan Demkiv and others who were all carrying little niggles.

“They probably could have played through them but I chose to resd them and ultimately, I am a little bit responsible for the result.

“My old man keeps me grounded. He always tells me that football is 99 per cent disappointment, from our level all the way to the top.

“You have got to try to take the positives from every game and as the manager, I need to pull the boys off the floor a little bit.”

The defeat, which was only their third at Oakfields this season, reiterated to Baggs that he and his players must not let their standards slip.

Baggs also said due to the facilities available to them, many teams look forward to visiting Oakfields, which is something the Melksham manager would like to dispel sooner rather than later.

“It was the first league defeat since the start of September. It was disappointing that it came in the way that it did - we were well below-par,” he added.

“Maybe it was a little bit of a hangover from how well we played against Bradford Town on Boxing Day.

“It is a game Melksham Town expected to win, and maybe that was the problem. We expected to win.

“We didn’t play to our full potential, which is always dangerous because every time a team comes to Melksham, it turns into a massive game for them because of the new stadium.

“If we are below-par, we aren’t good enough to just turn up and make things happen.”

Melksham return to Oakfields on Saturday, where they will take on Crowborough in the fourth round of the FA Vase.

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Lewis Waldon was on target for Rich Hunter’s side but Jonathan Aitkenhead was sent off.