DARREN Perrin reckons that his Melksham Town side should be more than happy with their start to the new Toolstation League Premier Division season.

Melksham kicked off the new campaign with a comprehensive 3-0 win at Bridport last Saturday before drawing 1-1 at Bishop Sutton on Monday evening.

The Conigre chief was has started the season without star strikers Dan Kovacs and Gary Higdon at his disposal and thinks that his team’s unbeaten start to the season demonstrates the strength-in-depth the Melksham squad possesses.

“Gary Higdon was on holiday and comes back in this weekend and Dan Kovacs has a lateral ligament (knee) injury and is probably two weeks away,” said Perrin.

“We’ve coped without two of the best centre-forwards in the league and I think that shows just how strong our squad is. We were also without Sean Benison and it looks like his knee injury is going to be a long-term one.

“The players performed exceptionally well at Bridport on Saturday and we came up against a really tough side on Monday.

“In the first half, we weren’t really at the races but we got back into the game with a Ryan Bennett goal and then missed one or two unbelievable chances to get another.

“We’re more than satisfied with four points from the first two games.

“We know there are a few things that could be better but if you look at the start we made last season, we only had one point after eight games. Now we’ve got four points from two matches.”

Defender Ryan Bennett headed home a second half equaliser on Monday whilst Mike Perrott opening the scoring in Saturday’s win at Bridport, with the midfielder bundling home from Nick Ridout’s inswinging corner.

Striker Ridout tapped the visitors’ second into the net after getting on the end of Ben Thomson’s lob before substitute Jamie Broom slotted home Melksham’s third.

Perrin’s men are in FA Cup extra preliminary road action this weekend, with league rivals Longwell Green Sports visiting the Conigre.

The Melksham boss said: “It’s going to be another tough game – they had a good win over Shepton Mallet last weekend.

“These games are huge because of the financial boost they can give you and in the last few years, we’ve pretty much fallen at the first hurdle every time.

“We’ll treat them with the same respect we did Bridport and Bishop Sutton and try to get a good result.”

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