Frome Town got back to winning ways as they completed the double over fourth placed Slough Town thanks to a first club goal from Ryan Bath, a sterling defensive performance and a penalty miss from Slough’s James Dobson.
Frome would appear to be Slough’s bogey team as the Somerset side have never lost in the previous five meetings, but with a depleted Town and Slough looking certain to be in the play-offs at the end of the season, this would be a stern test.
With Marcus Mapstone unavailable and Jon Davies, Jake Jackson and Jordan Walker on the bench but not really fit, Clayton Green dropped back into central defence alongside Connor Roberts. The fact that no substitutes were used during the match gives an indication of the injury levels on the bench.
With Slough bringing good support, a crowd of 307 gathered to watch on a sunny spring day with a dry pitch and a still wind blowing towards the Club House end, which was to influence the match throughout the 90 minutes.
The match started evenly with both teams coming to grips with the conditions, and Slough had the first sniff of goal in the 15th as a long throw as good as a corner from Guy Hollis made use of the wind to cause problems in the Frome area.
Kyle Phillips made his first save of the match in the 17th as he stopped a Simon Dunn snapshot and, with Frome struggling to make any inroads into the Slough defence, and with Slough pressing a high line, they started to look like the team most likely to open the scoring.
The visitors went close several times during a period of pressure around the half hour mark, and they should perhaps have taken the lead in the 36th as Warren Harris shot wide after a header from Gavin James had put him into a good shooting position.
With the match looking like it would be goalless at half time, Frome took the lead in the 45th minute as a throw-in on the right wing saw Ollie Knight produce a moment of trickery to slip the ball to Ryan Bath. The big centre forward took one touch and produced a reverse shot that deceived Shaun Rowley and the ball rolled unerringly into the far corner.
With the wind behind them, Frome started brightly in the second half and Mike Bryant just failed to direct his header goalwards as he was first to a George Miller free kick. With Chris Gregan showing that he had a long throw that also worked in the wind, Frome looked dangerous in what was becoming an end-to-end match.
However, as the half progressed, Slough moved more into the driver’s seat and as the Frome defence appeared to deal with another long throw, Kris Miller seemed to go to ground and to the surprise of both sets of supporters, the referee blew for a penalty for some reason.
However, Slough’s James Dobson saw his penalty kick hit the base of the post, and as the ball rebounded into the six yard box, Simon Dunn was the first to arrive but his header was weak and directed straight into the arms of a grateful Kyle Phillips.
Phillips pulled off a superb low save in the 32nd as Warren Harris got his head to another long throw and Slough certainly were turning the screw at this point, but Frome always looked dangerous on the counter with the pace of James Fitzgibbon and Ollie Knight always causing problems as they chased the ball over the top of the defence.
In the 70th minute George Miller picked out the head of Ryan Bath with a free kick and he did the same again with a corner a few minutes later, but the header was just wide of the post. At the other end, the Frome defence was having to work hard as a Slough attacked with pace and bodies whenever they could.
With Phillips producing a man of the match performance with punches, catches and interceptions and picking up a few knocks as well, it was looking like Frome might hold on to the lead, and indeed they went close to doubling it with two minutes to go, as Ollie Knight and James Fitzgibbon worked hard to produce a shooting chance for Fitzgibbon that Rowley did well to save with his legs.
The last attack of the match saw Slough throw everyone (including their goalkeeper) up for a free kick, but the Frome defence dealt with the threat and the referee blew for time within seconds for a very good, hard fought victory.
Goalkeeper Kyle Phillips was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award by representatives of Lilley’s Cider who had sponsored the match, and it was an excellent performance under a lot of pressure. Crowd: 307. Entertainment Value: 4/5
