Frome Town made it a club record five Southern Premier wins in succession thanks to a second half goal from Darren Jefferies, and climbed to 17th place in the league after a run of only one defeat in eleven games.
The squad showed just one change from Wednesday’s win against St Neots, with Steve Hulbert coming in in place of Chris McPhee, and the bench included new loan signing Blake Davies from Bristol Rovers academy.
On a day with a cold, stiff wind blowing towards the club house and with the pitch now very dry, the conditions were always going to play a part in this game, and so it proved as both teams struggled to come to terms getting the ball under control effectively.
After Darren Jefferies had volleyed over in the opening seconds, Kings Lynn showed with a couple of pacey attacks, but Kris Miller proved too fast for John Sands as he attempted to break through, and after Ryan Fryatt had broken on the right, his cross was hit way too hard to cause problems.
Frome had a big chance in the 11th as Mitchell Page and Jon Davies combined well on the right, allowing Davies to turn in the box but his left foot shot towards the top far corner failed to curl in enough.
Kings Lynn had their moments in the first half, but finding a quality finish was proving difficult, with David Bridges completely missing his attempt at a shot in the 20th and with Steve Hulbert getting in the way of a fierce snap shot from Sands, Darren Chitty was having little to do in the home goal.
The 26th minute saw the first regulation save of the match from Alex Street as Page back-heeled to Mike Bryant and his cross was hit low first time by Jefferies. Chances were few and far between and it was generally a scrappy first half.
Frome almost went behind in the first few seconds of the second half as a poor clearance put them under pressure momentarily, but they survived and started to look much better going forward. A string of free kicks and corners ended with Jefferies bringing a good low save from Street.
Frome took the lead in the 56th minute as Rob Hobbs took a quick throw in on the right wing that found Jon Davies in space in the visitors’ penalty area, but the ball bobbled and he was dispossessed by Kern Miller who then lost control. Darren Jefferies quickly moved onto the loose ball to hammer a low shot into the net from 12 yards with Street almost saving with his legs.
Frome continued to press and Street only just dealt with a Davies corner at the second attempt and in the 65th. Davies cut inside his marker to bring another low save from Street and at this stage it looked likely that Frome would increase their lead.
The next chance arrived in the 72nd as Kings Lynn failed to deal with a Sam Teale long throw and Jefferies pounced on the loose ball, to cut in and hit a sharp left foot shot from a tight angle that Street did well to push away to safety. The goalkeeper again did well to save five minutes later as Hobbs floated a ball in that fell to substitute Jake Jackson to shoot from 6 yards.
As the match moved towards the final whistle, Kings Lynn threw everyone upfield to try and get the equaliser, but with Chitty dealing effectively with several corners and free kicks, the Frome defence looked comfortable dealing with everything thrown at them, and substitute Blake Davies showed his skill with a nice step over and shot from the edge of the box that again brought a save from Street.
At the final whistle, the team were applauded from the pitch by the home supporters and with only one defeat in eleven and five successive wins on the trot, it is remarkable how Nick Bunyard and his management team have transformed the season which was looking very bleak at one point.
Marcus Mapstone was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award by Trevor Stacey who had sponsored the match ball. Crowd: 145. Entertainment Value: 4/5.
