Frome Town 1-1 Redditch Utd – Evo-Stik Premier Div., Saturday 23rd April

A 65th minute goal from Jake Jackson cancelled out a 15th minute opener from Redditch’s Sam Merson, to give Town a point and secure their highest points finish in their history in the Southern League.

The recent run of good form eventually led to a finish 14 points above the drop zone after spending the early part of the season struggling at the wrong end of the table.

The point was also enough to confirm second place for Redditch that gave them home advantage in the play-offs.

Frome had Marcus Mapstone and Sam Teale returning to the side, and after last week’s match against Hungerford, this promised a more combative performance, which turned out to be the case.

The match started brightly with both sides looking for the opening goal, and in the opening moments, both sides had free kicks in dangerous positions that both keepers did well to deal with, the Sam Merson shot just wide for the visitors in the 9th, and when he flicked a header wide in the 10th, it was obvious that Redditch were looking for victory.

Frome then countered and Mike Bryant blasted over the bar as a left wing move gave him time and space, then Jackson did well to win the ball from Matt Day and clip a shot just past the near post.

However, Redditch took the lead in the 15th as hesitation in the home defence allowed the ball to run free to James Clark who then set up Sam Merson to clinically despatch the ball into the far corner, and, at this stage, despite Frome’s efforts Redditch always looked that little bit sharper on the attack.

An audacious shot by Ashley Sammons from just inside the Frome half clipped the outside of the top of the post in the 21st, and with Sammons curling a free kick just over the Frome bar and then setting up Merson to bring a save from Baldy, Frome were doing well to limit the damage.

However, Jon Davies brought a save from Jose Veiga as he drove a free kick into the keeper’s body, and with a George Miller header bring a low save at the near post by Veiga, an equaliser for Frome was always a possibility.

The second half seemed noticeably different, and it seemed that  Redditch were content to defend their lead and conserve their energy for the play-offs, and, as such, a lot more of the play was now in the Redditch half.

Teale managed to get his head to a left wing corner in the 55th without effect, and the pressure paid off in the 65th minute as a good move involving Walker, Page and Jackson led to Frome winning a throw in, and as the throw came in, Jackson was on hand to stab the dropping ball home from 10 yards to give the home side a deserved equaliser.

Strangely, Redditch still seemed fairly subdued in their response, and Frome almost scored again in the 77th as Mitchell Page went close with an acrobatic effort that cleared the far post, and another period of pressure five minutes later ended with Veiga calming things down as he took a Davis cross with ease.

Sam Teale was shown a fairly harsh second yellow in the 87th as he fouled Sammons 10 yards outside the Frome box, and as the free kick came in it was hacked off the line after Baldy had done well to save well, but with no further chances, the match ended in a draw.

Nick Bunyard, his management team and the players deserve huge credit for turning around a season that looked for a long time as if Frome were certainties for relegation. Well done.

Jake Jackson was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award by Tom Clark of Special Effects.

Frome Scorers: Jackson (67). Redditch Scorers: Merson (15). Crowd: 280. Star Man: Jake Jackson. Entertainment Value: 3/5.