ON a perfect afternoon, this was a cracking match between two teams intent on playing football and though Frome eventually triumphed 2-1, thanks to goals from Sam Teale and George Miller, they were indebted to goalkeeper Kyle Phillips, who brought off several stupendous saves to ensure Frome picked up their first home league points of the season and make it 5 wins in a row in league and cup matches.
Frome’s side showed just the one change as Kris Miller was suspended, allowing Sam Teale to come back into the side at left back and ever present Ben Withey moved from left back to right back, and was to play as well there as he has on the opposite wing. The expected return of Connor Roberts to the side was delayed due to complications with the paperwork, though this is expected to be resolved soon.
On a stunning carnival afternoon and following a minute’s applause at the start of the match for former player and lifetime supporter Brian Wilkinson, the match kicked off at a lively pace. Frome could easily have found themselves a goal down in the 2nd minute as two shots from close range were only just defended, with a suspicion of handball keeping the second shot out.
The visitors had the ball in the net in the 4th minute as Afolabi Akinyemi finished off a move sweetly, but the linesman’s flag saved Frome and as they started to get into the swing of the game, they were a little lucky to survive again in the 10th as the dangerous Darren Foxley beat the offside trap and shot across the face of the home goal.
As the match evened itself out, Frome took the lead in the 16th as, following a free kick that had gone close, Jon Davies produced a gem of a chip over the defence to allow Sam Teale to control and hit a low right foot shot into the corner of the net.
However, the lead only lasted a minutes. The visitors immediately went on the offensive and Foxley latched onto a right wing cross to go past his marker and shoot low into the net to make the score 1-1.
The match now slowed down a little and it became a clever tactical battle, with both sides looking to make the best of their options, and Frome were generally creating more chances. Mitchell Page caused defenders all sorts of problems and Jake Jackson relished the space that he was finding, as Page was continuously pulling two defenders with him.
In the 27th, Jackson shot just over the bar as Page slipped the ball through to him. George Miller had a header go just wide of the post as he made ground to get on the end of a Teale cross and Joe Raynes shot just wide after a good passing movement had allowed him to find space.
However, Frome failed to find the net again before half time and with Bishops Stortford wasting a good opportunity just before half time as Akinyemi hit a free kick tamely into the body of Phillips, the 1-1 scoreline was a pretty fair reflection of the half.
Phillips had to be alert to keep the score level straight from the kick off of the second half, but Jackson was only denied by the legs of McCarthy in the 52nd as he turned well and hit a low shot. With Darren Jefferies having his follow up shot deflected for a corner, the crowd were starting to get interested, and with Davies clicking into top gear, chances were starting to come thick and fast.
However, against the run of play, Frome failed to clear their lines in the 63rd minute and Kyle Phillips brought off two unbelievable reaction saves in quick succession, with the second one in particular almost defying belief as he managed to get a hand to the ball and push it up and over the bar.
Jackson thought he had given Frome the lead in the 66th as his glanced header from a corner was heading inside the far post until the head of Aaron Tumwa denied him, and with Jefferies going close again a minute later as Mapstone and Teale caused panic in the visitors’ defence, Frome were looking good.
The winner finally arrived in the 70th minute as a Davies right wing cross just evaded the head of Page, but Miller was on hand to slide in at the far post and poke the ball home, with the aid of a slight deflection from George Casey.
Teale almost scored again 3 minutes later as he cut in from the left to play a neat 1-2 with Page, but his curling shot just failed to come back in enough, and with Page being substituted in the 77th to a warm ovation, Frome started to drop back and protect their lead a bit more.
However, Bishop’s Stortford always looked likely to get the equaliser with their pacey forwards, and it took another good reaction save from Phillips in the 89th as Jason Williams found time and space to shoot, before they managed to run the clock down and finally secure their first home points of the season.
Frome now look forward to the visit of Hereford Utd on Wednesday evening in what should be another good game and a decent crowd.
Goalkeeper Kyle Phillips was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award for his outstanding saves, though this was a good all-round performance from the entire team. Crowd: 225 Entertainment Value: 5/5
