Frome Town were given a master class in attacking football by a rampant Redditch United.
The 4-0 scoreline could easily have been much greater, as Redditch were continuously denied by a string of fine saves from Frome’s goalkeeper Darren Chitty.
Manager Adrian Foster was pleased to include new signing Lewis Haldane in the starting line up, and with Jack Vallis returning from suspension he took his place alongside Rhys Baggridge in the centre of defence. Striker Ollie Taylor had been recalled to Woking as cover for their FA Cup tie with Wrexham. An even opening few minutes gave little indication of the way this match would go, but a warning of the “shoot on sight” policy that Redditch would employ came in the 5th minute as a 25 yard shot from Ashley Sammons crashed against Chitty’s crossbar before being cleared.
As the match progressed, it rapidly became clear that Redditch were a hugely impressive side going forward, and with four or five players bursting at pace in all directions whenever they came forward, the Frome defence were going to have to work very hard to contain them. Redditch should have taken the lead in the 13th, but Jermaine Hylton found himself with acres of space five yards out after being brilliantly set up by Ashley Sammons, but he seemed to have almost too much time and shot wide.
Frome’s Lewis Haldane clipped a Kris Miller cross against the outside of the Redditch post in the 17th, but a meaningful Frome attack was a rare occurrence and every time Redditch went forward they looked like scoring.
Hylton proved too strong for Vallis and brought a save from Chitty in the 19th, then Sammons went close a couple of times before being denied by a great Chitty save, with Simon Moye going close from the resulting corner.
Despite two more stunning Chitty saves in the 24th, he was unable to prevent George Carlyne firing home from 10 yards to give Redditch a 1-0 lead they richly deserved and despite more Redditch pressure, they were unable to add to their lead and at half time Frome were quite pleased to be just one goal down.
However, the slender lead didn’t last long and Redditch’s second arrived after 35 seconds of the second half as Carline found acres of space on the left, cut inside Rhys Baggridge and pulled the ball back perfectly for Dior Angus to shoot home cleanly.
It was 3-0 in the 55th as another superb pacey move involving three players carved Frome apart and the final ball was so good that Hylton was able to walk the ball into the net and effectively kill the match off as a contest.
Frome made three substitutions at this point, and with Kris Miller moving forward into a left wing role, they looked better and even carved out some chances, with Lewis Haldane and Matt Smith bringing good saves from Bradley Callow, and Cameron Brown spurning a good chance after being set up by Miller. However, Redditch always looked like they could score at will and the fourth arriving in the 83rd as the hugely impressive Sammons picked up the ball, advanced on goal and shot cleanly into the corner.
After Josh Klein-Davies had shot over after being set up by Miller, it could well have been 5-0 just before the final whistle as Sammons hit a penalty onto the junction of the bar and post after Jamie Spence had been taken down as he pushed the ball past Chitty.
This match showed the difference in class between the top and the bottom of the Southern Premier, but Redditch must be favourites to feature strongly in the title race as their attacking play was easily the most impressive seen at the Blindman’s Brewery Stadium for a long, long time.
Darren Chitty was chosen for the “H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award” by Tom Clark on behalf of the charity Special Effects who had sponsored the match.
