MELKSHAM Town overcame a series of early setbacks in their latest Southern League Division One South clash to beat promotion hopefuls Street in a 5-3 thriller at the infiLED Arena on Saturday.

After conceding in the opening three minutes, Melksham boss Kieran Baggs was dealt another blow when goalkeeper Darren Behcet was forced off the field through injury.

Forty-one-year-old coach Nick Evans stepped in to fill Behcet’s role before star striker Jon Davies tweaked his hamstring with 18 minutes on the board – forcing Baggs to complete his second substitute.

Despite this, braces for Neikell Plummer and Rob Hobbs, plus substitute Brad Norris’ second-half effort, fired Town to a timely win over Street.

Delighted boss Baggs now believes teams are approaching games differently when playing at the infiLED Arena – largely due to the club’s impressive unbeaten home record, which stretches back to last year.

He said: “Street are a team that will be up there this season. The management there have transformed them from a mid-table Western League side to a promotion-ready Southern One team.

“It was always going to be a really tough game. They are in tremendous form.

“It was important that we turned up, but the infiLED Arena has turned into a bit of a fortress for us.

“People come to our place and we do everything we can to ensure that they leave with nothing.

“We knew the game was going to be tough, but we knew if we kept working hard then we would get a result.”

Baggs was also pleased by his side’s determination when coming out for the second half, despite holding a comfortable two-goal lead.

A strong defensive performance, under the circumstances, coupled with five goals up top delighted the Town boss – whose team are now just one point outside of the play-off frame.

“After our early wobble, we went in at the break with a two-goal lead,” said Baggs.

“We knew they were going to come at us after the half-time break, and they got back in the game before we defended really well.

“We kept our shape and limited Street to long-range efforts for Nick’s (Evans) benefit – he’s been a great goalkeeper over the years, but he’s not been playing.

“With him in goal, we always knew they had a chance from long-range strikes – and their second and third goals were from 20-plus yards out.

“If we had a regular number one in, he might have been able to reach them.

“But we were clinical with our chances. It was a great performance and another superb crowd.

“The boys deserve credit and we look forward to Saturday at Highworth."