Sat. 15th December. Evo-Stik Premier Frome Town 2 Staines Town 0
In very wet conditions, a goal in each half from Jordan Rogers and Johnny Gorman enabled Frome to come out fairly comfortable winners 2-0 winners in this bottom-of-the-table battle, though Staines kept going throughout and created chances of their own.
Frome’s side showed a lot of changes from recent weeks with Ollie Knowles absent, Kane Simpson departed, but new and fairly new signings Josh Morgan-Williams, Jonny Gorman, Jordan Rogers and Tristan Plummer all starting.
Frome should really have taken the lead in the first five minutes as first Alex Monks shot past the post after 32 seconds, then Marcus Mapstone fired over from close range after Louis Dixon had fumbled a cross under pressure from Jordan Rogers and then a Frome free kick was cleared off the line.
However, Staines somehow survived and even entered a period of possession around the quarter hour, and as the match settled, there wasn’t a lot to choose between the two sides. In the 16th, Mapstone did well to get back and just get a tackle in on Luca Charles-Valentine, allowing James Carey to come out and intercept the cross before Matt Campbell-Mhone pounced on the chance.
Staines continued to hold their own, and only a good save from Carey prevented Campbell-Mhone from scoring as he cut in from the left and hit a sharp right foot shot. Charles-Valentine brought another save from Carey in the 30th and the crowd were starting to get a little restless.
Slightly against the run of play, Frome opened the scoring in the 32nd as a ball from the right wing found Sam Teale on the far side, and his first time right foot shot from the edge of the box was touched past Louis Dixon by Jordan Rogers. Town could have added to their lead before half-time, but were also thankful to the body of Connor Roberts blocking a goal-bound shot.
The heavens opened just after half-time, and with Frome generally mastering the conditions better, they nearly doubled their lead in the 47th. a Mapstone header from a corner hit the back of a defender, and with a stooping Rogers header hitting the side netting from the resultant corner, they were getting closer.
Rogers had a golden opportunity to increase the lead in the 51st as a slip from Mack Miskin allowed him a clean run through on goal, but his shot cleared the bar by a country mile.
Frome did get the second goal in the 72nd as the dangerous Rogers broke. As he was taken out by a desperate slide tackle, the ball broke to Jonny Gorman on the right and the Northern Ireland international finished well with a cool left foot shot from just inside the box.
Frome replaced Morgan Williams with Ryan Bath in the 76th, and by now the game was an end-to-end affair with both sides creating chances. But Frome never really looked in any danger of relinquishing their lead, and with Carey saving well in the 80th and Frome almost carving their way through in the 90th, the match never really petered out, but in the end the better side won and the three points are most welcome.
Town man of the match was Connor Roberts.
