Frome Town 1 – 3 Poole Town (aet) – FA Trophy 1R Replay, Sat. 2nd Nov

FROME Town and Poole Town were able to complete this FA Trophy replay at the second time of trying, and again a valiant effort from Frome led to a 1-1 scoreline at full time, but Poole proved stronger in extra time and eventually ran out 3-1 winners.

Frome took the lead with the first notable incident of the match as Ben Wood teed up Aaron Ledgister to cut inside his full back and hit a right foot screamer into the net from 20 yards, and Darren Chitty preserved the advantage a few minutes later as he pulled off a great save to deny Steve Devlin.

The wind was starting to cause problems for both sides but Matt Cowler produced a long range effort in the 31st that Nick Hutching saved comfortably, Ekow Elliot headed a corner over the bar for the home side and with half time looming, Lloyd Matthews was replaced by Brandon Mundy as he seemed in a lot of pain with a shoulder injury.

A double substitution at half time for the hosts suggested a change of attitude in the second half and so it proved as they took the game to Frome in a re-run of the previous encounter. Frome had a chance in the 67th as Ben Wood brought a finger tip save from Hutching, and after Poole had missed a sitter from close range, Chitty again brought off a great save to keep the slender lead.

Ryan Elliot cleared off the Frome with a header, but the pressure was starting to tell and the equaliser arrived a minute later as Will Spetch fired a right wing cross home from close range, and with Frome’s Matt Smith just failing to snatch the winner in the 90th, the tie moved into extra time. With the first period goalless, penalties loomed until Poole were awarded what looked like a soft penalty allowing Steve Devlin to fire home, and they wrapped the tie up a few minutes later as Michael Charles fired home from close range, and with Matt Cowler  shown a red card a few minutes later,  Frome’s afternoon finished on a low note after starting so brightly.

Aaron Ledgister was awarded the “H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award”.

Frome Scorers: Ledgister (5). Poole Scorers: Spetch (84), Devline (112p), Charles (117). Crowd: 224. Star Man: Aaron Ledgister. Entertainment Value: 3.