Sat. 6th January. Evo-Stick Premier Biggleswade Town 1 Frome Town 2

A BRACE of goals just before and just after half-time from Marcus Mapstone and Ollie Knight, led to a very good 2-1 away victory at 14th-placed Biggleswade Town. But after Tony Burnett had pulled one back in the 75th minute for the hosts, Frome were indebted to goalkeeper Kyle Phillips, who pulled off a string of fine saves to  preserve the lead to the final whistle.

Frome travelled to this match with a seriously depleted squad, with Kris Miller, Jon Davies and Chas Hemmings all unavailable for this match. Also, with Frome’s bid for a replacement striker to take the place of the departed Jake Jackson having been gazumped at the last minute, they were just about able to take 12 players for this match, with the remaining two places on the bench being Josh Jeffries and Ben Cleverley, the manager and coach. On the plus side, the return of Connor Roberts playing alongside Marcus Mapstone added quality to the Frome defence.

However, despite their shortage in numbers, Frome made the early running and an early shot from Darren Jefferies was blocked and cleared in the 5th and Frome kept the pressure up with a couple of corners, one of which saw a header from Sam Teale cleared off the line. With long distance shots from George Miller and Ryan Bath both clearing the bar by a long way, hitting the target was proving to be a bit of a problem.

As the half progressed, Biggleswade started to come into the match more and after they had gone close from a free kick, Kyle Phillips pulled off a superb point-blank save and somehow the rebound was hammered high over the bar from 12 yards out and the scores remained level.

Just as it seemed that the status quo would last into the half-time interval, Frome took the lead two minutes before half time as defender Mapstone met a corner cleanly and headed in off the underside of the cross bar, to give Frome a lead that they just about deserved on the balance of play.

Two minutes after the restart, Frome made it 2-0 as Darren Jefferies fed the ball to allow Knight a run into the box and his low shot beat Sam Donkin comprehensively. But stung into action by the second goal,  Biggleswade now made all the running, trying to get back into the match. With the Frome defence looking solid, the hosts were struggling to make clear-cut chances.

Phillips pulled off his second great save of the match in the 60th, to tip a powerful shot just round the post. Eventually, the home pressure told in the 75th, as substitute Burnett latched onto a mistake to score with ease and make the score 2-1.

Despite Frome having the odd half-chance from breakaways in the last quarter, most of the possession and territory belonged to Biggleswade and in general, the Frome goal was under siege for most of that time. However, with Phillips pulling off several inspirational saves and defenders making clearances off the line and putting their bodies in the way of shots, the Frome goal seemed to have a charmed life and they held on for the win that put them three points ahead of Biggleswade, rather than vice-versa.

Slightly unusually, the directors ruled that they could not decide on a single award,  so both Joe Raynes and Kyle Phillips were jointly awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award.