After a first half when they breezed into a 3-1 lead thanks to goals from Mike Bryant and Dean Griffiths, Frome were pinned back in the second half by a young, much changed Cirencester side that decided attack was the best form of defence and probably deserved a share of the points on the night.
Frome’s absentee list increased with both Jon Davies and Darren Jefferies starting two match suspensions and, with George Miller and Aiden Kirby both unavailable and Dan Cleverley not quite fully fit, the normal Frome midfield was much changed, with Marcus Mapstone and Dean Griffiths playing in unaccustomed positions.
The decent crowd of 218 saw the match start with the normal sparring and Kyle Phillips had to be alert to deal with a low, skidding shot on the greasy surface.
It didn’t take long for Frome to open the scoring, and in the 8th minute, Clayton Green advanced into the Cirencester box to be tackled. The ball broke kindly to Jake Jackson and as his low shot was saved well by Raajan Gill, Mike Bryant was on hand to slide in, curl his foot round the ball and pull it back into the net from an acute angle for a very well taken goal.
After Frome had a goal disallowed for offside, they made it 2-0 in the 14th as a right wing corner was headed clear, only for Dean Griffiths to hit a shot from just inside the area that flew through a crowd of legs and took a deflection or two before ending up in the corner of the net, to give the returning striker his first goal since rejoining the club.
Cirencester made it 2-1 a minute later with a superb goal from Tony Lee as he received the ball just inside the Frome half. His first touch took the ball up in the air, he produced a stunning dipping volley that flew unerringly over the stranded Phillips into the corner of the goal from maybe 35 yards out.
The goals just kept coming and after Ollie Knight had been taken down by one of his former team mates, Connor Roberts produced the perfect delivery to allow Mike Bryant to produce a glanced header that gave Gill no chance and gave Bryant his second of the night.
After Cirencester had rightly survived a penalty appeal after Mapstone had collided with Gill in the box, Gill produced another fine save to deny Jake Jackson who had picked up on a poor defensive pass and found himself clean through on goal.
Jackson spurned a glorious opportunity two minutes later as he did everything right to get on the end of a Knight pullback, but after turning and creating space beautifully, he managed to poke the ball wide of the gaping goal.
Gill again produced a good save to deny Mapstone who found himself clean through on goal. Frome were left to ponder that, even at 3-1 up, the score could easily have been 5-1 at the break and the crowd wondered if the missed chances might come back to haunt them.
Cirencester duly made it 3-2 in the third minute of the second half as Lee was found in acres of space inside the Frome box. He controlled and finished with skill and coolness with his second of the night, and Frome were forced to wake up and get back into the game.
As such, the game developed into a fast, open, end-to-end affair, with shots from Bryant and Jackson flying over the bar and Cirencester’s Dan Demkiv causing all sorts of trouble in the left wing with his pace and crossing ability that resulted in several crosses flying across the face of the Frome goal.
Frome were missing the experienced heads in midfield that might have made the difference, but they were still creating chances. As Connor Roberts made a great run out of defence, he found a perfect ball to allow Griffiths a run on goal, but his shot seemed to be deflected wide by the legs of Bryant.
Kyle Phillips made a great save to tip a fierce drive over the bar in the 72nd and, with the resulting corner causing problems, Frome were just about hanging on to their lead at this point as Cirencester were pretty much running the show.
However, Frome had a big chance in the 82nd as a great through-ball from Green allowed Bryant to slide in and shoot. Gill again made a good save and, as Griffiths snatched at the rebound, the ball flew high over the bar and the chance was gone.
Frome then managed to retain possession and restrict Cirencester to non-threatening areas of the pitch and the whistle blew on a 3-2 victory for the home side.
This win takes Frome to 45 points and a position one point outside the play-off positions, and having taken 13 points from their last five games. The last two wins have been achieved with the manager not allowed to watch.
Connor Roberts was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award by Kevin.
Frome Scorers: Bryant (8), (21), Griffiths (14). Cirencester Scorers: Lee (15), (48). Crowd: 218. Entertainment Value: 4/5.
