Isle of Wight football's Cowes Sports have lost out on a place in the Emirates FA Cup, losing to Wiltshire's Melksham Town FC in today's preliminary round.

Despite Storm Antoni's best efforts, the match went ahead as planned, at the Yachtsmans' Westwood Park ground.

The 3pm kick off saw the Islanders face a side who play in the higher Southern League's South Division.

The final score was 4-2 to the visitors, but it gave Cowes Sports manager Max Draper the chance to see how all his new signings have bedded in.

For Melksham, Ben Brooks, Alex Henshall, Sam Hendy and Gary Higdon scored.

For Cowes Sports, there was a 47th minute equaliser for Scott Mcfarlane, with the second coming from Jez Conway.

The Islanders also made a few substitutions.

After the game, Melksham's manager, Mark Collier, said: "I don't think the scoreline told the true story.

"Credit to them. They made a lot of blocks, a lot of saves...and we're disappointed we haven't scored a lot more.

"Disappointed we conceded a couple of goals.

"When we got 3-1 up, 4-2 up, we needed to be more ruthless to put the game to bed.

"They kept going and worked their socks off for their manager. 

"Logistically not an easy one, but it's all worth it."

  • Next for Cowes Sports is their Sydenhams Wessex Premier campaign match against Baffins Milton Rovers, on Tuesday. 
  • Kick-off is at 7.30pm.