Frome Town 4-3 Dunstable Town – Wednesday 13th April, Evo-Stik Premier

This was a cracking match, full or incident, great goals and controversial goals, and with a winner in the 3rd minute of injury time from Chris McPhee, Frome picked up all three points as they won with the odd goal in seven.

Frome started with a similar line up to Saturday’s match, but with Marcus Mapstone unavailable, Chris McPhee came in alongside Connor Roberts and Alex Shaftoe replaced Ed Baldy as Frome once again rotated their goalkeepers. Right from the start this match fired into life and Dunstable’s Connor Calcutt very nearly carved out a shooting opportunity in the first minute, but then Frome struck back as Dan Cleverly glanced a Jordan Walker cross just past the far post, and with a fierce Darren Jefferies shot just palmed away by Bart Pedrycz, this match never looked like it was going to be an ‘end of season affair’.

After Shaftoe had settled well with a confident take from a cross and a clever header away to deny a Dunstable attack, Frome took the lead in the 10th as Jake Jackson did really well to win the ball back and play it to Jefferies who then clipped a cross in for Mike Bryant to score a gem of a goal with an acrobatic overhead kick from close to the penalty spot.

The pendulum then swung in the favour of the visitors and they started to look dangerous in attack, and David Long-King should have done better with a header as he got on the end of a dangerous free kick from Dave Keenleyside, and shortly after, their aerial power again showed itself as a header from a right wing corner hit the Frome post.

Dunstable went very close in the 27th as a free kick was headed back across the Frome goal with no one getting a touch, but then immediately Frome broke and a fast passing counter attack ended with Mike Bryant scoring his second of the night as he fired home left footed from 12 yards, though even the Frome fans felt there was more than a hint of offside about the goal.

Bryant almost notched his hat trick in the 30th as he threw himself at a Cleverley free kick, but his diving header was well saved by Pedrycz from close range, and with Frome probably having the better of the last minutes of the first half, this match promised more goals in the second.

Dunstable came out firing on all cylinders at the start of the second, and they equalised on the hour as Jon Edwards fired home from the edge of the area with a low shot that Shaftoe got a hand to but that went in off the base of the far post to make the score 2-1 to Frome.

The hosts then made it 3-1 in the 70th as Jon Davies was fouled on the edge of the penalty area, and as the crowd were trying to remember the last time Frome had scored direct from a free kick, Davies produced an absolute beauty to curl the ball up and over the wall and plant itself in the top corner.

However, Dunstable came right back and made it 3-2 two minutes later as a raid on the right led to a Frome header off the line, but the ball was driven straight back in by Calcutt from 10 yards and the final outcome of this match was still impossible to predict.

Controversy erupted in the 82nd minute as a back pass from the knee of Roberts bobbled over the foot of Shaftoe, who then dived backwards to claim the ball, only for the referee and linesman to award a goal, with home and away fans agreeing that the ball was at least two feet from going over the line, but the goal stood and at 3-3 this match could have gone either way.

Despite both sides going for the winner, it looked like the draw was the likely result until Jefferies was taken out Howard Hall as he accelerated down the right, and as he got up and swung the free kick in, Cleverley directed a header on goal and Chris McPhee was on hand to slam the rebound in as it came back off Pedrycz.

This was a cracking game, and it’s a huge shame that there were only 104 people there to see it, but it also shows that Frome are now playing as a team that refuses to believe that they cannot win.

Two goal Mike Bryant was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award by John Scott of John Scott Builders Ltd who had sponsored the match. Crowd: 104. Entertainment Value: 5/5.