A MATTY Bown penalty proved too little, too late for Melksham Town as they were defeated by in-form Team Bath at the University of Bath on Saturday 1 December.

The home side were always in command and climbed above Melksham in the Screwfix Direct League Premier Division table as a result of their win.

The University outfit wasted a hatful of chances before inflicting only Melksham's second defeat in 17 matches.

They went in front on 25 minutes when Matt Lewis danced through the Melksham defence to score with ease.

Poor finishing kept the hosts' lead to just one goal at the break, but Sean Carr made no mistake from Lewis' low cross to extend the advantage in the second half.

Melksham gained brief hope when Bown converted from the spot after Tom Gould had handled in the area on 80 minutes, but Team Bath frustrated Robbie Lardner's side in the closing stages and held on to secure a deserved three points.

Manager Lardner was full of praise for the home side.

He said: "Team Bath are a very good footballing side.

"They played some lovely football and probably caused us more problems than all the other sides we have played put together.

"Team Bath are very fit and have some wonderful players. They are as good a side as I've seen in the Western League, and the only downside is they have a lot of younger players.

"It will be interesting to see how they cope when they are not playing on such a nice surface.

The Melksham manager felt his side had deserved nothing from the game after going into it on the back of three successive 1-0 victories.

He said: "We've been very strong defensively as a team lately but they really did run us ragged. We did well to get away with a 2-1 defeat in the end.

"We had a couple of chances to equalise in the end, but that would have been a travesty of justice.

"I've got no complaints about the result. I wasn't pleased with our performance and we didn't play well as a team."

Melksham lost skipper Steve Seals in the third minute with an ankle injury and Lardner will be hoping he recovers in time for tomorrow's third round FA Carlsberg Vase tie with St Neots Town at The Conigre, kick off 3pm.

THIS game was overshadowed by a serious injury to United striker Carl Clarke who was stretchered off after half an hour following a collision with Sutton keeper Johnston.

Prior to this the game was open with both keepers making excellent saves. Mark Batters denied Maggs and Shepherd, and Johnston saved from Wayne Wheeler when he should have scored.

Wheeler was clean through again shortly before half-time but again Johnston made a save.

Sutton took the lead in first half injury time when the excellent Shepherd clipped the ball past Shepherd from the edge of the box.

United almost equalised in the 55th minute when Colin Last had a shot blocked and from the corner Mark Pearce headed over.

Just just a minute later Sutton doubled their lead when Shepherd passed to Maggs who provided a classy finish to a fine move.

Loic Herouard began to play some of his best football and along with Steve Perkins threatened a revival for United.

Perkins brought a super save out of Johnston with a vicious 18-yard shot and the goalkeeper had to be at his best again to deny Last and Pearce.

Sutton's third goal was a complete fluke as Lucas' mis-shot cross from 40 yards out on the wing eluded everyone, including Batters, and landed in the corner of the net.