Frome Town looking to bounce back after play-off heartbreak

THE Frome Town FC manager, Danny Greaves, is optimistic about the future of the club following a heart-breaking end to the season when they lost out on promotion in the play-off semi-final. 

Danny, who recently became the club’s third longest serving manager, says that the club will push on with the good progress made by his players this year and he hopes to clinch the top spot next season and secure automatic promotion. Frome Town FC were only three points off the winners at the end of this season and ended their campaign with only four losses. 

Danny said, “When you look at the season as a whole, the boys have been exceptional. Over the course of 36 games, we’ve only lost four all season and we’ve kept 18 clean sheets (one in every other game) and we’ve scored over 100 goals in all competitions. Based on the numbers, we’ve had an excellent season – it’s just unfortunate that Plymouth Parkway did something that won’t be repeated for a long time.” 

Plymouth Parkway secured automatic promotion following an impressive streak in the league, with the club winning 17 out of their last 20 games. 

Danny continued, “We’ve got some real technical players here at the club and the football this season has reflected that; we do try and play the right way and entertain the fans as much as possible. 

“We set the bar so high for ourselves this year and now we want to kick on and improve, but we know it will be hard as we had such a good season – if we tighten up a few small things I’m very confident we will have an even better campaign next season. 

“We have to go for the league this time or failing that we need to at least go up through the playoffs. The quality of the squad is so good, I know the boys have it in them. We’re looking at making a couple of new additions to the team this summer that will hopefully give us that extra edge that we need to end up on top. 

“We won’t need wholesale changes by any means, maybe just two or three additions. The squad unity is so good at the moment and the boys have been electric and got us so close to victory; we won’t be messing around too much with the team chemistry, that’s for sure. The boys that have been with us over the past couple of years have performed at a really high level, so we will just be looking at adding to those key areas. 

“The support this season has been unbelievable; the supporters have really been the 12th man and I imagine the atmosphere must be pretty hostile for an away team as the fans are so passionate – not aggressive but intimidating, and that’s exactly what we need!” 

Danny added, “At Melksham at home this season we were 3-1 down and the supporters got right behind us (some were standing right behind the goal, and it was like they were sucking the ball into the back of the net), and we managed to get two late goals and snatch a draw. We had over 1,000 people supporting us that night and they really made a difference. 

“The attendances have also grown so much this season; we were getting consistently about 700 fans per game for second half of the season and we hope they all are back with us come September and play their part.” 

Over the last couple of years there have been a few changes at Frome Town FC, with the introduction of new board members that Danny says have a focus on improving links with the fans and local community. 

Danny said, “We’ve built stronger links with the youth setup and Frome United and I think that will play a part in building a rapport with the community. Ben Starr, one of the co-founders of Frome United, does a brilliant job in getting the mascots to the game each time and they obviously bring their parents and friends and that all helps build the club.”