LOOKING for their sixth successive league win, Frome Town snatched a 2-2 draw against St Ives Town with a better second half, and in the final analysis, they did well to come back from a 2-0 half time deficit with goals from Jake Jackson and Marcus Mapstone.
Frome looked bright enough at the start, creating a couple of half chances in the opening exchanges, but then the hosts scored with their first attack of the match as Tom McGowan was on hand to hit a low shot into the corner in the 7th minute to make the score 1-0.
Frome responded well to going behind, and after Jon Davies had created a half chance for Jackson, a lovely, flowing move ended with Sam Teale’s shot just clearing the bar, and after Davies had a shot saved by James Goff and Joe Raynes had seen the home keeper just tip a shot round post, it seemed as if the pressure would soon tell, but sport has a funny habit of surprising you and St Ives made it 2-0 in the 18th as they broke quickly following a Frome corner and Tom McGowan produced a superb lob over Kyle Phillips into the net.
Inspired by their success, St Ives almost increased their lead twice before Frome regained their composure and in the 27th they were awarded a penalty as Jackson was taken down in the area by Goff, but for the first time in his Frome career, the normally lethal Davies saw his spot kick saved by Goff and the travelling fans began to wonder if it was going to be one of those days.
This view was reinforced a few minutes later as Davies went through several challenges to put the ball in the net, only for the referee to disallow the goal and pull the play back for a free kick in Frome’s favour, provoking a lot of head scratching in the ground at the decision.
With St Ives looking to protect their lead, Frome carried on with their search for a goal to get back into the game at the start of the second half, and eventually they were rewarded as Jackson turned in a Kris Miller right wing cross in the 63rd, and with St Ives now resorting to defending with everything they had, it was beginning to look like the equaliser would never arrive.
Luckily, nobody told Mapstone that, and after the defender had seen his header from a Davies free kick come back off the base of a post, he was quickest to react and drove the ball home unerringly from close range in the 78th to set up an interesting last twelve minutes with the scores level.
With the hosts deciding that sitting on the draw was not the best policy, they decided to go for the winner, and the play flowed from end to end until the floodlights failed in the 83rd minute before returning 15 minutes later to allow the match to complete, and with both sides creating chances, Phillips did well to bring off a great point blank save to retain a share of the points for Frome in the long journey back from Cambridgeshire.
Joe Raynes was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award for a tireless display linking the forwards and midfield.
