Saturday 19th August – Evo-Stik Premier Frome Town 2 Biggleswade 3

AFTER a dire first half that saw them trailing 2-0 at the break, two odd penalties within two minutes, a Mitchell Page-inspired comeback and a stunner from Darren Jefferies, Frome eventually lost 3-2 to Biggleswade, but were a little unlucky not to get at least a point from this game.

After the poor performance on Wednesday, the supporters were looking for an improvement from Frome. Chas Hemmings took his place in the team, with George Miller and Mike Bryant still unavailable for selection. Rob Hobbs was on the bench but possibly still struggling with an injury that saw him substituted early on Wednesday.

The early exchanges saw the visitors go close as Kyle Phillips had to come a long way out of his goal to just beat Jack Brown to the ball, and with Brown shooting across the face of the home goal in the 8th, Frome again seemed to be slow to get going.

Biggleswade duly took the lead in the 11th minute as a mis-timed header allowed Jack Brown to get behind and pull the ball across the box to Morgan Penfold, who would surely have scored if Kris Miller had not slid in and pushed the ball the wrong side of the post for an own goal. However the goal did inspire a reaction from Frome with shots starting to be directed towards the away goal, but direction was lacking.

Phillips did well to save twice in the space of a few seconds in the 22nd. Sam Teale might have equalised in the 25th as he cleanly got his head to a swinging Jon Davies corner, only to direct the header over the bar, and Jake Jackson brought a low save from Liam Gooch in the 27th as he managed to evade his markers. But then it all went wrong in the 28th as two or more headers were missed in the home defence and Brown had the easiest of tasks to shoot home as he was almost surprised that the ball had got to him.

Connor Hall almost made it 3-0 in the 31st as he turned and shot across the face of the home goal, only to see the ball just miss the far post and with a couple of odd decisions earning Teale a yellow for what seemed like a perfectly good tackle, and play waved on after Hemmings had been flattened, half-time saw the score remain 2-0 to Biggleswade.

Frome were a bit better after the break, spending more time in the visitors’ half and they were rewarded in the 54th minute as a viciously spinning high ball came down on the penalty spot and bounced up against a defender’s arm, with the referee blowing for a penalty that Davies duly despatched to make it 2-1 and give the home fans some hope.

Those hopes were dashed two minutes later as a Frome attack broke down. Biggleswade attacked on the right and as the low cross came in it hit a defender’s arm, the linesman flagged and Shane Hill hammered the ball into the top corner from the penalty spot to make it 3-1 to the visitors, with half an hour to play.

Frome huffed and puffed trying to make an impression on the visitors, but the game really changed in the 70th as Mitchell Page came on in place of Ollie Knight and suddenly the big Biggleswade defenders, Shane Hill and Gavin Hoyte, had a physical, aerial  battle on their hands after having had things their own way so far.

Immediately things got better with Jackson now having a “partner in crime” to work with, and Page put a shot past the post in the 27th after Jackson had made space for him. Two minutes later, Page returned the favour and his header to Jackson brought a good save from Gooch.

However, Brown could have sealed it for the visitors in the 75th as he blasted over a great chance from 6 yards after good work from Robbie Parker, and a very good run and 20 yard left foot shot from Connor Hall was only just tipped over by Phillips two minutes later,

Frome pulled it back to 3-2 in the 80th as a low Davies right wing corner evaded everyone and man-of-the-match, Darren Jefferies, hit a screamer from the edge of the box that flew unerringly into the corner to set up an interesting last ten minutes.

Page was playing a blinder as he continuously won balls in the air, the Biggleswade defence had a real handful to deal him with physically, and with Jackson shooting over as Page set him up, Joe Raynes heading a superb Davies cross into the body of Gooch and Teale appearing to be pulled  down just as he seemed certain to bury a Kris Miller cross in at the far post, Frome really went for the equaliser and looked like the team that the fans know they can be …. but it wasn’t to be and in the final analysis, Biggleswade were worthy of their win.

However, that last twenty minutes gives the fans some hope and it could just be that Frome’s season really started in that period of the game.

Frome now face the ridiculously long haul to King’s Lynn on Bank Holiday Saturday, followed by the visit of Tiverton to the Special Effect Stadium on Bank Holiday Monday.

Darren Jefferies was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match award by representatives of the Frome Times who had sponsored the match. Crowd: 196. Entertainment Value: 4/5

Report: Colin Carpenter