FROME Town progressed to the next round of the Southern League Cup (aka the BigFreeBet.com Cup) thanks to two goals in the space of 4 minutes from Jon Davies and Jake Jackson; though after Manor Farm had pulled it back to 2-1 in the 90th with a goal from Jordan Metters, they very nearly took it to penalties right at the end.
Frome were a little slow to get going in this match and in the opening exchanges, Manor Farm looked the more likely to open the scoring, with Metters shooting over in the 4th minute as he found himself in acres of space. With Kye Holly setting Metters up again shortly afterwards, Frome were a little fortunate to still be level after the first ten minutes.
However, they did settle to their task, and with Davies playing wide on the left and Darren Jefferies playing wide on the right, they started to make inroads into the opposition half. But Manor Farm were always dangerous on the break and a lovely passing move in the 19th led to Ben Bament shooting just wide on the turn. Frome took the lead in the 28th as Davies went on a run that started on the left wing, and as he cut into the box, he let fly with a shot that seemed to ricochet off at least two defenders before going over the line. They then made it 2-0 four minutes later as Davies broke and fed the ball to Jackson who seemed to have no chance as the only red shirt in a sea of yellow, but he somehow found space, turned and shot low into the corner.
The remainder of the first half was all about Manor Farm going forward, but the Frome defence was up to the challenge and the final ball was never enough to cause Kyle Phillips any real problems in the home goal.
The lead could very easily have been 3-0 right at the start of the second half as a through ball by Jackson totally through on goal, but Ashley Cook did well to deny the striker with a low save to push the ball out for a corner. Sam Teale clipped the Manor Farm crossbar with a shot in the 61st as he cut in from the left wing, but on the whole, despite always being a fast, open game, both sides were finding it hard to really trouble the opposing keeper. Frome did fashion half chances in the 80th and 82nd as first Jefferies and then Knight got to the dead ball line, but couldn’t find the killer pass for the goal that would settle the match.
Manor Farm pulled it back to 2-1 in the 90th as a right wing corner was only partially cleared and Metters drove home from close range after Phillips had saved. A minute later, the visitors should really have pulled the score level as a low driven cross was completely missed at the far post by Bament, allowing Jefferies to immediately attack for Frome, but again the pull back wasn’t quite as exact as it might have been.
Ben Griffiths was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award for a very good game at right back.
