A first half goal from Marcus Mapstone was enough to see Frome Town into the FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round with a 1-0 win after travelling to North London to play Hanwell Town from the Southern League Central Division.
After the shocking news of the week that had seen manager Nick Bunyard banned from football for 3 years and also banned from watching Frome play in that time, it was good to see Josh Jeffries and all the usual players turning up as usual to travel to just outside Wembley to take on Hanwell Town who are currently in 15th place in the Central Division.
Surprisingly, this was Frome´s fifth away draw in all competitions this year, the odds against that being 32 to 1.
After a fairly even start with neither side taking overall control, chances started to appear as Kris Miller released Jon Davies, only for his dangerous cross to be scrambled clear by the home side.
Kyle Phillips had to be alert to come out of his goal and clear the danger in the 10th, and with Dan Cleverley heading a free kick onto the roof of the net and Davies coming in for some heavy handed attention from Hanwell, Frome were starting to cause problems.
After Hanwell had wasted a free kick by hitting it straight at Phillips, Frome took the lead in the 26th as a Frome corner was swung in by Davies, and as the home side failed to clear, central defender Mapstone was on hand to hammer the ball low into the net from close range.
Aiden Kirby replaced Mitchell Page in the 32nd minute due to injury and Frome then went close twice as Melvin Minter did well to get down and push away a low Davies free kick, and then push away a Mike Bryant shot for a corner.
With Davies starting to terrorise the home defence, chances were starting to flow and Minter again did well just before the break to push away a header as Mapstone got on the end of a telling cross from Connor Roberts.
Frome were well worth their lead at half time, and the second half was more of the same with the game perhaps losing a bit of the edge that it had in the first half, with Frome content to defend their lead and wait for the chance to hit Hanwell on the break as they were forced to come forward in search of the equaliser.
However, with Hanwell starting to lose faith in their ability to get the equaliser, Frome started to look like they would increase the margin of victory and several free kicks and corners led to Darren Jefferies and Clayton Green both having efforts that required good saves from Minter.
With a couple of minutes to go and Frome completely in the driving seat, Minter again kept the deficit to the single goal as he saved well from Davies and Kirby, but the margin was enough for the win and Frome go into the draw for the next round of the FA Trophy.
Kris Miller was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match award for a good performance at right. Crowd: 104. Entertainment Value: 3/5.
