Frome Town 4-4 Bedford Town – Calor Southern Premier League, Sat 12th Oct.

Football was the winner in this match as Frome and Bedford shared eight goals in a scintillating match that saw Frome come from behind twice, only for Bedford to snatch a last gasp equaliser.

A stunning Darren Chitty tip over the bar followed by Bedford’s John Sonuga heading the ball onto the crossbar from the resulting corner set the tone for the match in the 4th minute.

As the match swung from end to end,  Matt Smith brought a save from Dan Green with a left foot shot, and a minute later, he bravely charged down a clearance that set up a shooting opportunity for Aaron Ledgister, who let fly with a stunning volley from the corner of the box that stayed low and screamed into the far corner of the net to give Frome a 1-0 lead.

Bedford equalised through Andrew Philips from the penalty spot in the 25th as Dean Flockton was adjudged to have taken him down with a challenge from behind, but Frome then entered a good spell as they took the game to Bedford with intelligent balls to players running into space behind the visitors’ defence. A Ben Wood free kick caused Green problems as he punched the ball up into the air and was grateful to see it fall on top of the net, and a few minutes later a long throw from Wood found Josh Ford on the far post only for his glanced header to just miss the outside of the post. A cleft wing cross from Ledgister evaded everyone and allowed Matt Smith to shoot, but the ball again cleared the crossbar.

As half time loomed, Bedford won several corners, and as they attacked Frome they were rewarded with a goal right on the stroke of half time, as a left wing cross seemed to evade the Frome defence allowing Kerron Birch to run onto it and crash a volley past Chitty from 12 yards to make the score 2-1 to Bedford.

Frome equalised in the 51st minute as Kurt Hammond and Ledgister combined to set Wood free in the box, a perfect chip to the far post allowed Matt Smith to head the ball back to Matt Cowler, his shot was parried by Green but Wood was on hand to blast the ball home from close range. Bedford regained the lead in the 65th minute as a crossfield ball just evaded Mark Cooper and Birch scored his second of the game as he shot home low from the corner of the Frome area. Frome missed a golden chance five minutes later as a perfect Ledgister free kick saw Rhys Baggridge just miss his header by inches as he arrived at the far post. It was 3-3 in the 81st as Wood was fouled as he moved onto a pull back from Lloyd Matthews, and Ledgister scored easily from the spot, and the home crowd went wild as Ben Wood advanced on goal and scored with a peach of a 25 yard left foot screamer to make it 4-3 to Frome with three minutes to go.

As full time approached, a loose ball in midfield allowed Bedford to flood players forward and the equaliser arrived in the 2nd minute of injury time as Eugene Asante got a touch to a Curtis Shaw shot and deflected it past the helpless Chitty.