Two moments of quality from Dan Cleverley and Darren Jefferies resulted in a 2-0 win over Cambridge City in an untidy match which never really settled to a pattern, and looked like it could have gone either way for a long time.
The good news was that Frome were able to start this match with the same side that had started in midweek, with the notable exception of Jon Davies who was unavailable for this match.
It would be interesting to see how well Frome did without their play maker for the first time this season, as they took on Cambridge City who are having a hard time this season with two wins on the road and no home wins.
In a cold, chilly wind on a good pitch, the match started with a nervous first couple of minutes for the visiting keeper Enol Ordonez as he first spilled a catch from a cross and repeated the feat again from the resulting corner.
As the match settled it became clear that Frome were having most of the possession but failing to make any penetration through the middle.
In the 12th minute, Frome’s George Miller had a blocked shot that allowed Mitchell Page to attempt a chip over the stranded keeper, but it sailed high and wide over the bar. Kris Miller hit a low shot wide before his namesake George had another low shot into the arms of Ordonez.
At the other end Cambridge were looking to play long balls over or through the Frome defence to make use of the speed of Brad Woods-Garness but, with Connor Roberts shadowing him, Kyle Phillips quick to come out, and the linesman quick to raise the offside flag, Cambridge never really threatened at all in the first half.
Despite their dominance in possession, Frome seemed to lack a wide right player and, with Darren Jefferies having a quiet match on the left, Cambridge were happily dealing with any attack through the middle. It took until the 41st minute before Ordonez made his first real save to push away a shot from the falling Aiden Kirby, who seemed to be having his shirt tugged at the time.
The second half was more of the same, and Aiden Kirby brought an unorthodox save from Ordonez in the 57th minute after Page had found him in space. Frome still looked lop-sided and short of width until Clayton Green replaced Mike Bryant and the midfield started to look a bit more balanced.
The best move of the match resulted in the first goal in the 62nd, as a five man Frome move ended with Chris Gregan curling in a perfect cross from the left and Dan Cleverley producing one of his superb ‘trademark flicked header’ to guide it up and into the far corner from a position just inside the Cambridge area. No goalkeeper in the world would have got that one, it was that good.
Frome looked better after this, and Ordonez did well to deal with a driven cross from Kirby, but Cambridge always looked like they could get something out of the match and Connor Roberts was forced to make several saving tackles as the speedy Cambridge forwards threatened to get behind the Frome defence on numerous occasions.
Kyle Phillips produced the save of the match as he threw himself across the goal to prevent an own goal as Clayton Green completely mis-hit an attempted clearing volley, but with Cambridge always threatening to get the equaliser, home nerves were steadied in the 86th minute as Jefferies took on his marker for the first time, nutmegged him and ran on unopposed before slotting the ball between Ordonez and the near post for a great gaol that sealed the points for Frome.
Connor Roberts was awarded his third H&B Tyres Man of the Match award in a row. The award was chosen and made by club chairman Jeremy Alderman, of Jeremy Alderman Ltd, who had sponsored the match. Crowd: 189. Entertainment Value: 3/5.
