DEVIZES gained revenge for their Boxing Day defeat at the hands of local rivals Melksham by picking up all three points on Easter Monday.

A first half strike from Nick Mooney put Devizes in the driving seat and although Melksham battled hard a late effort from Steve Sartin sealed the home side's victory.

Devizes caretaker boss Sean Moffatt said his players had responded following their drab performance against Welton two days earlier.

"I stayed with the same starting 11 that played Welton. I gave them the benefit of the doubt because everyone can have a bad game," he said.

"On Saturday they had no fight in them and I told them not to let themselves down again or I would field the reserves in the next match.

"To be fair to them the players went out all guns blazing and although the game wasn't pretty you don't expect that in local derbies."

Moffatt said he felt the score-line had been a fair reflection on the match.

"Our performance was similar to when we played Odd Down in the way that we rolled our sleeves up and battled," he added.

"Melksham did have a fair bit of the play but they didn't create a great deal and our goalkeeper didn't have many saves to make."

Melksham boss Nigel Tripp said he had been pleased with his side's performance but not the end product.

"It was disappointing because we played well in spells," he said. "The way we are going at the moment the longer we keep it tight the better but we gave a goal away early.

"I was pleased in a lot of ways with the performance but it is frustrating when we don't win.

"I felt if we got one goal we could have gone on and got a couple more but it was not to be.

"At the end of day these things even themselves out and to be fair we didn't deserve anything when we beat them on Boxing Day."

It was Devizes who started the game the sharper and they took the lead close to the 20-minute mark.

Following a throw-in Justin Porter created an opening with a clever back-heel and Nick Mooney rifled the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

The goal served to fire up Melksham and they forced Devizes onto the back foot for the remainder of the half.

But the visitors could not find the equaliser before the break and after the interval it was Devizes who re-established their grip on the game.

The home team came back out fired up but were unable to create a great deal of clear-cut chances.

Devizes did have a goal ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper but it was some late substitutions that gave them the edge they needed.

Lloyd Sartin and Steve Sartin replaced Marcus Wallen and Justin Porter up front.

At 1-0 Melksham always had a chance of pinching something but Devizes eventually killed the game with their second goal in the 87th minute.

Simon Drewitt provided a touch of class with an inch-perfect through ball and substitute Steve Sartin applied the necessary finish. Moffatt said: "It was not the best game to watch but we were more interested in result and it was important that we bounced back from Saturday.

"We responded well and were full of high spirits after game. We've now got four games left so there are 12 points there for taking and we want to finish as high as possible."

On Saturday Devizes are at home to Dawlish when they will be hoping to follow up the victory over Melksham.

The game was originally scheduled to be played back in September but Dawlish pulled out that day through a lack of players.

Devizes are virtually at full strength. Moffatt will have to wait on the fitness of Kev Bush after he sustained a bang on the head against Melksham but left-winger Nathan Perkins is set to return to the squad.