Taunton Town 3-1 Frome Town – Somerset Premier Cup Quarter Final – Tuesday 24th March.

In a re-run of last year’s final, high flying Taunton Town  ran out 3-1 winners over Frome thanks to a hat trick from Aaron Ward-Baptiste  and a solitary reply from Matt Minnis.

A much changed Frome side rested several regulars for this match, and the side lined up playing three at the back and giving starts to Matt Minnis, Tom Golledge, Harry Walker and Josh Morgan Williams.

After a quiet start, the first chance arrived for Frome in the 16th as a Darren Chitty throw found Walker on the right, and his perfect diagonal ball to Minnis allowed the striker to control and shoot, but his deflected shot was easily held by Lloyd Irish.

Frome carved out another chance eight minutes later as Matt Smith released Kris Miller on the right, and as his pace took him clear of his marker, his perfect cross saw Tom Golledge just fail to get his foot on the ball.

Taunton’s first chance arrived in the 39th minute as Rodney Marsh hit a low shot that was cleared off the line by Matt Smith, with no threat from the ensuing corner, but then the host took the lead a few minutes later as Ward-Baptiste popped up to score his first of the night as he rounded Chitty and rolled the ball into the empty net.

Frome almost equalised through the last move of the first half as Irish did well to deny a combination of Brandon Mundy and Golledge, and Mundy was again involved a few minutes after the break as he set up Minnis for a shot that ended up going straight into the arms of Irish.

Minnis again hit his shot straight into the keeper in the 53rd minute, but five minutes later his perseverance paid off as he volleyed a deep Harry Walker cross past a stationary Irish to level the scores at 1-1.

Taunton’s first chance of the second half arrived in the 68th as Chitty just tipped a shot behind for a corner, but as it was swung in, the ball was not cleared and Warde-Baptiste bagged his second of the night with a shot into the top of the net.

With Brandon Mundy picking up his second yellow of the night, Frome made a couple of substitutions, but any chance of comeback was snuffed out in the 84th as Warde-Baptiste finished off the cross from substitute Jamie Short after a blistering run had taken him almost the length of the pitch.

Crowd: 163. Entertainment Value: 3/5.