First home defeat of the season for Town

Saturday 22nd August

Southern League Premier South

Frome Town 1-2 Gosport Borough

Frome fell to the first home defeat of the season as Gosport Borough took all three points back to Hampshire, winning at Badgers Hill by two goals to one.

Kie Plumley in the Gosport goal was warmed up early on as he made a smart save to deny a header from skipper Sam Teale from a corner after six minutes.

Five minutes later the visitors tried to find an opening with a cross from the left but Warren Maidment did brilliantly to get in front of the Gosport number nine Daniel Wooden to head the ball behind for a corner.

With quarter of an hour gone, Callum Gould for the Dodge had a half chance with a half volley from the edge of the D which was comfortable enough for Plumley.

Straight from that chance, a Boro throw in deep inside the Frome half found Wooden who held the ball up inside the box, he rolled it into the path of Jordan Ngalo who rifled his effort past Kyle Phillips into the bottom right corner.

The response from Danny Greaves’ side did not take long, six minutes in fact and it was from a set piece of their own that got them back in the game; Albie Hopkins with a stunning free kick from the angle on the right, through a number of bodies to find the far left corner. A quick response from the Robins saw them back level.

Frome nearly turned the game around on 30 minutes from an audacious effort from Gould out on the left. His hopeful ball into the box nearly dipped underneath Plumley’s crossbar as he had to scramble back to his goal line to palm the ball away from danger, but that was the last of the action from the first half as the two sides went in with the scores all square.

The second-half started with Kris Campbell just giving Phillips a small test with his strike from the edge of the area, though it was comfortably held on to by the Frome Town number one.

Phillips had to be on his toes to deny Campbell yet again on the hour mark, with Phillips getting down to his right to make the save before Gould slid in with a fantastic interception to prevent Wooden from having a chance from six yards out on the rebound.

Boro would make their second half pressure count in the 67th minute as Frome were undone by another set piece. Campbell’s corner from the near side of the media booth was floated to the back post where Amadou Jallow was left free to head the ball home past Phillips to regain his side’s advantage.

Frome rallied bodies forward in search of an equaliser, Josh Owers had a snapshot from the edge of the box but it was always rising over the bar. Teale also had a go from inside the D where he tried to curl the ball into the top left corner but it was a fraction wide of the post.

There was an attempted header flicked goalwards by Archie Ferris on 75 minutes but unfortunately the header was always going away from the substitute David Duru on the back post.

Gosport had a great chance to seal the game four minutes from the 90 when George Penn’s 30-yard effort looked like it was going to nestle into the back of the net before Phillips produced a very good save to keep his side in the game.

A little half chance then fell to Zac Drew just outside the penalty area but his volley was over the bar, as Gosport came away with all three points from Badgers Hill.

The next visitors to Badgers Hill will be Bath City on bank holiday Monday 31st August with a bumper crowd expected for the first ever competitive league match between the two sides.

Report: Harry Minton