Danny Greaves rang the changes after Saturday’s win over Walton Casuals and with five or six changes gave squad players a chance to impress, but despite good levels of fitness shown, the side never really looked to have any real threat going forward, and Paulton took their chances well and deserved their win on the night.
Paulton started to dominate right from the start and with a 25 yarder from Ryan Gay thudding against the Frome crossbar in the 14th, a free kick headed just over the bar a couple of minutes later and Dale Evans bringing a good save from Seb Tylek in the 25th, the writing was starting to materialise on the wall.
Frome had a chance in the 27th as Ryan Bath produced an acrobatic effort over the bar following a corner, but the one-way traffic continued and Paulton duly took the lead in the 32nd as Ryan Gay laid the ball into the path of Malpas who struck a low shot past Tylek into the far corner.
Paulton’s keeper Rob Brown was more than a little fortunate to escape a yellow card as he came way out of his area to body check Dan Demkiv, and although the referee gave the foul, most observers felt that the blatant foul deserved more than a quiet word.
On the stroke of half time Malpas hit another shot wide of the post, and Paulton fully deserved their lead and perhaps should have been leading by more.
Tylek did well early on in the second half to save with his legs as Paulton beat the offside trap on the left wing, and after Demkiv had landed a cross on the roof of the visitors’ net in a rare Frome attack, Paulton again went very close as Aysa Corrick twisted and turned on the right before hammering a low cross that just evaded everyone as well as the far post.
Tylek did well to save in the 62nd, but he could do little to prevent Paulton’s second of the night as Corrick again did well on the right and pulled the ball back for Malpas to strike the ball from the edge of the area that took a wicked deflection off the leg of Sam Teale and flew into the net.
Frome tried to get back into the game after this, but the quality of the final ball was always lacking and Rob Brown was never required to make more than the odd regulation save as Paulton looked very comfortable.
However, this local derby rarely goes without some controversy, and as the match progressed, it became obvious that the temperature out on the field was rising and perhaps the officials should have sensed this and started clamping down more on what was starting to happen.
It all erupted in the 83rd minute as a wild but missed tackle from Teale on Jordan Lovibond erupted in a massive free for all, which for several minutes had the entire playing management, staff and players in a small area around the Frome dug out, and when it had all settled down, Frome’s TJ Davies (who had been substituted and was in the dugout) was shown a red card for apparently throwing a punch and Teale and at least one other player were shown yellow cards. Something always seems to happen when TJ is about.
When the dust settled, Frome probably had the better of the remaining minutes, but in fairness, Paulton never looked likely to concede their victory and ran out deserved winners in the end. Crowd: 107 Entertainment Value: 3/5
