A tough week for Frome Town ended with a relatively comfortable win for 4th-placed Kettering Town as an early goal from Rhys Hoenes and a penalty from Brett Solkhon gave them a comfortable 2-0 lead at half time. A third from Aaron O’Connor at the start of the second half effectively sealed the match.
Frome were able to field a full strength squad for this one and with loan signing from Bristol Rovers, Josh Brace, taking his place on the bench, Frome had the luxury of five viable substitutes. But it was always going to be a tough match, with Kettering virtually guaranteed a place in the play-offs and still with a faint chance of the league title.
The match kicked off with Kettering immediately causing problems as Matthew Stevens did well to get to get to the ball and hit a half volley across the face of the goal from a tight angle. Kyle Phillips was then brought into the action in the 3rd minute, as he did well to turn away a left-footed shot from Kalem Thomas, with the rebound being blocked.
The writing was on the wall however, and Kettering took the lead in the 7th minute as a cross from Lindon Meikle was blocked. But he recovered and laid a perfect ball into the path of Hoenes, who drilled the ball home with ease.
Kettering again went close in the 12th as they broke from a Frome corner and Aaron O’Connor’s shot was just blocked. But at the other end, Frome then had their first sniff of goal as Mitchell Page flicked a header just over the bar, with the ball landing on the roof of the net.
Kettering had another big chance in the 22nd as Kalem Thomas broke on the right and laid it back to O’Connor, who somehow scooped his shot over the bar with the goal at his mercy. The hosts’ pressure paid off two minutes later as Hoenes was punched to the ground by a Frome defender and Solkhon tucked the ball away into the corner from the penalty spot to give Kettering a 2-0 lead that they would never look like losing.
Frome’s first shot on goal arrived in the 39th as George Miller hit a rather tame shot into the body of Paul White. They had another chance a couple of minutes later as White made a mess of a clearance, but the shot from Knight was intercepted by a defender on its way to goal.
With Kettering’s Matt Stevens turning and surging into the box, only for his shot to hit the side netting right at the end of the half, it was clear that the two-goal margin was a fair reflection of the half. Frome would have to move up a gear to get back into the game, but five minutes into the second half, the game was effectively done and dusted as Ben Toseland broke on the left and his pin-point cross was turned in by O’Connor to make it 3-0 to the hosts.
With Kettering firmly in control and content to sit on their lead, both sides used all their substitutes and the match was fairly quiet until Kettering carved out a couple of chances Howe brought a save from Phillips and Chas Hemmings hit the post at the other end as Frome replied, but there was still time for Phillips to make a couple more good saves from Milnes and Stevens, to keep the scoreline respectable.
Kris Miller was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award for a hard working game at right back.
