Basingstoke breezed past Frome and, after taking a 3-0 lead at half time, they totally controlled the second half, cancelled out Frome’s second half consolation goal within 45 seconds and convincingly won 4-1.
With Frome’s goalkeeper Darren Bechet still injured after last week’s match, Frome were grateful to Bristol City for the loan of James Corey as the FA had not cleared stand in keeper Seb Tylek to play, though, as is the way of things, the clearance duly arrived at the last moment and he took his place on the bench.
Weymouth’s surplus of strikers meant that Frome were able to arrange a one month loan for Harry Baker who had a really good season with Weymouth last year and with both Ryan Bath and Kane Simpson on holiday he went straight into the starting line up and had a good, though lonely match up front.
The pitch had recovered remarkably well after the recent rain, but there were still dry, brownish areas that will hopefully fully recover in the autumn.
The match started as it was to continue for the entire first half, with Frome playing a neat passing game but generally with no end result, allowing Basingstoke to just sit tight, wait for the inevitable mis-placed pass or loss of control and launch fast counter attacks with pacey forwards and wingers who were prepared to run with the ball.
Frome were almost caught cold in the 2nd as Sam Smart latched onto a loose pass and broke before shooting high and wide, and with Charlie Kennedy heading just wide in the 6th minute after another similar attack, the writing was starting to appear on the wall.
Sure enough, the visitors opened the scoring in the 8th minute as Basingstoke’s Sam Smart broke on the right and laid a perfect low ball into the path of Sam Argent who swept home with ease, and after Sam Argent had a goal disallowed for offside three minutes later, and only a great save by James Corey and a superb sliding block from Connor Roberts prevented Smart from adding a second in the 13th.
However, the second goal arrived in the 18th as Shane Hollamby rose highest at the far post to head a corner home and make it 2-0 to the visitors, and by this stage Frome were really struggling to put together any significant attacks, lacking width, movement and any intensity to get the ball back from the opposition in their own half.
Marcus Mapstone did well to disrupt another Basingstoke attack in the 37th, but then frustration got the better of him two minutes later as lunged for the ball outside the box after Frome had wasted several chances to clear their lines, but luckily the outcome was a poor free kick and just a yellow card.
Frome did bring a low save from Colm McAdden in the 43rd after a good interchange by Baker and Cottle let Cottle shoot low, but then Basingstoke made it 3-0 on the stroke of half time as Ricky Scott was adjudged to have pulled Charlie Kennedy down in the box and Dean Stow scored with ease from the spot with an unstoppable shot.
With Basingstoke comfortable with their lead, Frome had no real answer in the second half despite having quite a lot of possession, but they did get one back with a delightful left foot curler from Dan Cottle in the 59th, but then all thoughts of a comeback were quickly dispelled as, straight from the kick off, Basingstoke worked the ball across the Frome box and Zidan Akers shot home low into the corner to make it 4-1.
With the visitors generally content to control the game in the Frome half, the game was petering out as a spectacle, but Frome did create a few chances late on as in the 78th, McAdden failed to control a back pass allowing Baker to whip the ball off him only for the covering tackle to retrieve the situation, and Baker only just failed to get on the end of a whipped in cross from Matt Morris five minutes later, but on the whole, Frome gave a performance that suggest that the Southern Premier League is going to prove difficult to compete in this season.
Kris Miller replaced Connor Roberts late on and with four minutes to go and you might have thought that he might have avoided his customary yellow card. You might have thought that …… but you’d have been wrong.
Scorer Dan Cottle was chosen for the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award by match sponsors Kane McGuiness Designs. Entertainment Value: 2/5
