Frome Town’s excellent start to the season showed serious signs of de-railing as they slumped to their second heavy defeat in four days with a 3-0 loss at Stratford Town following the 4-0 home defeat by Dorchester in midweek.
Mitchell Page returned to the side after suspension, Jake Jackson dropped to the bench, a fit Marcus Mapstone took his place at the centre of the defence alongside Nathan Summers, and Connor Roberts moved to right back, with Kris Miller moving to the left back slot in place of Chris Gregan.
With Frome looking to bounce back after the mid week horror show, they started brightly enough and threatened in the first minute as a Jon Davies cross was fumbled by home custodian Niall Cooper, allowing Dan Cleverly to hit a shot that was deflected for a corner.
As the match progressed Frome looked the most likely to break the deadlock, winning several corners in quick succession and a Page header from a Davies cross brought a save from Cooper, but the clear cut opportunity was never quite being created.
Stratford’s first attack came in the 15th, ending with a shot into the side netting but, with Frome still having the bulk of the attacking play, it came as a bit of shock when Stratford took the lead in the 32nd as Richard Gregory dived low to head home a Simeon Tullock cross.
The remainder of the half led to no further incidents, although Page picked up a yellow on 40 minutes which was to prove crucial in the second half.
Stratford made it 2-0 in the 62nd as a corner was swung in. Nobody really took charge to deal with the threat and Stratford’s Edwin Ahenkorah bundled it home from close range in the ensuing goalmouth scramble.
Five minutes later, Frome had a mountain to climb as Page was shown a second yellow for a needless foul that invited the referee to reach for his notebook, meaning that he will now suffer another one match suspension having just returned from a three match suspension.
For the second match in a row, Frome found themselves chasing a 2-0 deficit and, despite attacking substitutions, the numerical disadvantage told and they were restricted to one scoring chance as a Darren Jefferies header hit the bar in the 80th minute.
Frustration and indiscipline were starting to get the better of the team, with Chris Gregan, and Clayton Green both getting yellow cards, and in the end Stratford sealed a good, hard working win with a goal from Edi Mbunga in the 87th, as he shot home from 10 yards through a stationary Frome defence.
Connor Roberts was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match award.
