Frome Town Ladies travelled to Ilminster Town Ladies’ reserves, after plenty of rain had threatened to put the contest in doubt.
Before the game got under way, a two-minute silence was observed by all for our fallen heroes from conflicts over the past 100 years. Frome Ladies kicked off and with only 40 seconds registered, Frome’s immediate pressure paid off, with Bristow chipping the home keeper on their first attack of the game.
Frome were then pegged back by a physical Ilminster midfield, but lacked any cutting edge up front. Restorick, in goal for the visitors, saw the best effort on her goal come from a fizzing back pass from Perkins, but her assured footwork in a sticky six-yard box put Frome back on the front foot.
Thirty minutes in saw Seviour clip the ball “over the top” for Christmas to run on to, beat the keeper and square the ball across the six-yard box for Underhill to tap in with ease. Frome, now keen to put the game to bed, struck their third, with Christmas getting to the by-line again, squaring to Underhill but this time Underhill rolled the ball across the keeper for Petteford to run through and score from 6 yards. With only minutes to half time, Frome were awarded a free kick for a clumsy tackle 20 yards out. Up stepped Underhill whose fine strike just under the bar left the home keeper flapping at fresh air!
Ilminster kicked off the second half with the ball rolled back to their midfield being chased down by the hard-working forwards. Petteford’s persistence stole the ball back from the Ilminster left back and her neat pass to Underhill on the edge of the box saw another fine shot hit the back of the net with only 14 seconds on the ref’s watch to complete her hatrick.
Frome continued with pressure on Ilminster’s goal for a further 20 minutes with the odd Ilminster ball into the Frome half being dealt with adequately by the Frome back four and keeper. Ilminster looked to keep Frome at bay by defending deep and in numbers, but on 65 minutes that girl again, Petteford, played in Underhill to calmly run in and finish for Frome’s 6th of the day. Frome finished the game the stronger of the two teams, but Ilminster stuck at it until the final whistle.
A good afternoon for the Frome Ladies on a sticky pitch carrying on their winning streak of 9 games on the trot.
Each week the player of the match gets tougher and tougher to choose as the whole team from front to back are performing in such a confident passing fashion, but today it went to Petteford who worked tirelessly all game and was involved with all the goals.
Next up, another away trip for Frome this time to Ash Rangers near Taunton.
Report: Kevin Restorick.