Sat 10th Feb. Southern League Division One South. Frome Town 4 Malvern Town 0.
FROME Town comfor-tably defeated Malvern Town after a dominant display at Badgers Hill.
The Robins bounced back in the best possible way after last week’s disappointment against Mousehole, with goals from Will Taylor, Jon Davies, and a second-half brace from James Ollis, all helping Frome get back on track.
Frome are now 18 matches unbeaten at home, you’d have to go back almost 45 years to find as good a record.
The starting XI was one with many changes from the side that fell at Trungle Parc; Will Taylor, Pierce Mitchell, Davies and Sam Heal who made his debut, all started while George Rigg, Ross Staley, Kane Simpson and Matt Wood all dropped to form a strong bench.
The decision by Danny Greaves to make a whole host of changes paid dividends, as the home side dominated the majority of the match, propelling them back on track in the league.
Despite a fairly even first ten minutes, Frome started to show their quality. Heal, who was lively on debut, managed to rob the ball off the defender before being wiped out on the edge of the box, with Davies subsequent free-kick comfortable for Joshua Bishop.
Ten minutes later, Sam Teale headed Davies’ corner just past the post. Despite the disappointment, you could sense a goal was coming.
And that’s exactly what happened in the 27th minute: another corner swung in by Davies caused mayhem, with loud appeals from the away side for a foul on the keeper, before Taylor nodded it home, and after a chat between the referee and the linesman the goal stood.
At this point, Frome were well in their stride and doubled their lead five minutes later through Davies, who made a real difference on his return to the side. He was played through by Ollis, before cutting on to his left foot, before firing past the keeper, with the defender only able to help divert his effort in.
Greaves would have been happy with the first half, but there was something he picked up on, which Frome would use to their advantage in the second 45, and that was the space they found in behind the Worcestershire side’s defence.
Straight from the kick-off, Frome’s intentions were clear with the majority of attacks being balls played in behind the Hillsider’s backline, who struggled to deal with the timing and pace of Ollis, who found himself through in the 50th minute, forcing a good save from Bishop before he had to recover to save again, this time from Davies.
Lucky to get away with it once, history repeated itself again seven minutes later, as Ollis found himself through again, this time making no mistake with the finish, slotting comfortably past the keeper to give the Somerset side a comfortable three-goal cushion.
And it was deja vu for Frome in the best possible way, as Ollis found himself through on goal for a third time in 15 minutes, this time in the 60th minute. Blink and you’ll miss it – an almost identical goal as the striker slipped the ball past Bishop, to all but secure the Robins three points.
The rest of the match was game management. Knowing the next game was six days away, Staley, Wood and Sam Meakes all came on throughout the last 30 minutes to get some minutes, while Teale, Heal and Ollis all earned deserved rests.
Meakes was unlucky not to make it a five-star performance after he found his way through, and his effort to take the ball past Bishop was denied by the keeper.
The win puts Frome back up to second in the league, and next up is a big local derby against Westbury United, which promises to be another classic!
Match report by Harrison Richards
