Frome Town moved into 8th place in the Southern Premier League with a fairly comfortable 2-0 win over 22nd place Gosport, thanks to goals in each half from Jake Jackson and Jon Davies.
On a night of missed chances, they perhaps should have won more comfortably, but credit should be given to a young Gosport side who kept going right up to the final whistle.
With George Miller on the bench but still struggling with an injury, Mitchell Page returned to the bench after a three-match suspension, the starting 11 was exactly the same as the side that had lost 5-3 at Farnborough on Saturday.
On a mild, drizzly, misty night, the match kicked off with going close in the 11th as Darren Jefferies cut in from the right to bring a save from the legs of Tom Price, followed by a nice move on the left from Joe Raynes that set up Jackson for a shot from the edge of the area that went wide. The first really clear-cut chance came in the 16th as Davies broke and played a perfect through ball into the path of Jackson, but his shot was well saved low down by Price.
Frome carried on applying pressure with Chas Hemmings hitting a long range shot over the bar, and Jefferies having another shot deflected for a corner. But the shot of the night came in the 23rd as Davies hit a 25-yard left foot screamer that Price could only punch up into the air and see the ball come down in a safe position.
The first goal arrived in the 27th as Ollie Knight did well on the left and pulled the ball back for Jackson to out muscle his marker, and as he fell, he swivelled and despatched a low shot into the corner that gave Price no real chance.
With Gosport seeming to have their fair share of the ball in midfield but really not causing Frome any real problems in defence, Frome went close again three minutes later as Knight and Jefferies combined well on the right to set up a shooting chance for Kris Miller, only for his shot to be blocked. As half time approached, there was a feeling that the missed chances might come back to haunt Frome in the second half as they were dominating the game at that stage.
At the start of the second half, Davies went on a great run into the Gosport box to set Jackson free, but his first touch let him down and the chance went. But then Gosport had their first half-chance of the match as Conor Davies found himself in space, but his snapshot from the edge of the box cleared the bar with ease.
After Joe Raynes had brought a good close range save from Price in the 57th, Frome had an amazing let off three minutes later as Gosport’s Dale Mason found himself in acres of space on the right, and as he accelerated into the box, his low shot beat Phillips, hit the inside of the far post, came back along the Frome goal line to hit the base of the near post and come back into play safely, which probably meant that it was going to be Frome’s night.
As the match progressed it became an end-to-end affair with Jackson going close in the 71st and a Knight header missing the post by a couple of feet, but at the other end, promising Gosport attacks normally ended a hurried shot that failed to cause Phillips any real problems.
After substitute Ryan Bath had gone close with a shot that just cleared the far top corner, Frome took a 2-0 lead as Davies showed quick feet to fashion a shooting opportunity in the box. His shot from 12 yards out was very nearly saved by Price who got a big hand to it, but was powerless to prevent the ball from slowly rolling over the line.
Frome continued to look dangerous right to the final whistle, with Knight and Jackson both bring good saves from Price, but nobody could find another goal and Frome would have been well satisfied with the three points and, more importantly, a clean sheet after conceding 12 goals in their last three away games.
Midfielder Chas Hemmings was awarded the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award by representatives of Frome shirt sponsors, Storage Base, who had sponsored the match.
