Saturday 20th September
Southern League Division One South
Frome Town 1-0 Mousehall AFC
Robins continued their unbeaten start to the Southern League campaign in what was a stop-start game against the Cornish outfit of Mousehole AFC in front of 418 supporters.
Frome won by a goal to nil, thanks to a first half own goal against the Seagulls who did end up finishing the game with ten men.
Our skipper Kyle Phillips had the quietest game he will ever have in goal, as the Dodge were very good at limiting the visitors to chances. In fact, Mousehole did not have a single shot in the entire 90 minutes.
The first notable chance for the hosts came just after two minutes, when Albie Hopkin’s strike from the right side of the penalty area had Ollie Chenoweth scrambling to his right as the effort was narrowly wide of the upright.
It didn’t take long for the Dodge faithful to have something to cheer about. Frome took the lead after 13 minutes after David Duru’s cross from the right caused problems for the Mousehole backline, causing their captain James Ward to head it into his own net to give the Robins the lead!
Just five minutes later there was another great opportunity with Archie Ferris heading an effort just wide from a corner.
A few good efforts towards the end of the first-half for Danny Greaves’ side. Ferris and Duru at the heart of creating chances once again, both trying their luck from distance but unfortunately their efforts went wide of the target. Would have been two spectacular goals if they did go in, nevertheless, Frome were one goal to the good going into the interval!
The second-half followed the same narrative as the first, although the Robins took their foot off the gas ever so slightly as still Mousehole were very lacklustre in creating opportunities. Duru had a great game, and he could have added a second early into the second 45 minutes, though his header was just wide of the target.
Another chance fell the way of the home side a little bit past the hour mark when Callum Gould (who was the man of the match for Frome) laid the ball off to Hopkins to have a strike which forced a good save out of Chenoweth.
Mousehole were already having a difficult afternoon, and it was made even tougher with about 15 minutes to go when they were reduced to ten men. Tallan Mitchell received a second yellow card for his pull back on Hopkins as he was trying to break for the Robins. An equaliser looked even more unlikely for the Seagulls now.
Frome had one more big opportunity to put the game to bed near the end of the game, however Chenoweth made a fantastic stop to deny substitute Sam Meakes with his header from point blank range.
The Robins held on though during the six minutes of injury time to secure a massive three points and a huge confidence booster going into the FA Cup game next Saturday!
That is the next game of course in the FA Cup Third Qualifying Round as the Dodge travel down to take on AFC Totton who now play their football in the sixth tier in the National League South.
