Sat 12th Feb. Southern League Div. One. Att: 205 Sholing 0 Frome 1
A GRITTY defensive display earned Frome all three points at Sholing on Saturday afternoon.
Despite ending the game with 10 men after Jack Witcombe’s late red card, Chris Peck’s first-half strike was enough to earn the victory for Danny Greaves’ men. An aggressive start from the Robins was typified by some incessant pressing from Jon Davies and Kane Simpson upfront, helping to win the ball deep in the Sholing half regularly in the opening stages.
These turnovers resulted in Frome winning a number of set-pieces in dangerous areas, and although a succession of Davies’ corners were well cleared by the home defence, it was a dead-ball situation that brought about the opening goal.
A low free-kick from Davies dropped perfectly into the path of Chris Peck in the penalty area, and the midfielder took a touch to set himself before lashing the ball into the roof of the net from close range.
Buoyed by his 15th minute strike, Peck’s influence on the game began to grow. A neat flick set-up a tidy combination with Davies, only for the forward to fire his shot into the side-netting, but it was his tireless work in midfield that stopped Sholing building up ahead of steam that stood out most.
The remainder of the first half was a scrappy affair, but the home side did begin to threaten the Frome box with half-time approaching. A number of important defensive contributions from captain Sam Teale ensured it was the Robins who led at half-time though.
Despite the home side cranking up the pressure in the second half as they searched for an equaliser, James Carey was rarely troubled in goal thanks to the efforts of those in front of him.
There was a brief moment of panic midway through the half as Sholing had the ball in the net from a free-kick of their own, but the linesman had raised his flag for offside long before the home crowd could begin to celebrate.
Daniel Mason struck the side netting with Sholing’s best opportunity of the afternoon in the final 10 minutes, but there was one last moment of controversy the Robins had to survive to secure the win.
Having already been booked for illegally halting a counter-attack in the first half, Witcombe was given his marching orders after the referee deemed he had kicked the ball away as Sholing looked to take a late free-kick.
The Frome players were convinced the ball had been kicked at their team-mate, but they still managed to survive the final moments without him and hold on to an important-looking win.
The result means that the Robins have moved within two points of league leaders Cirencester, and they are back in action next Saturday 19th February as Cinderford make the trip to Badgers Hill.