Somerset Floodlit Youth League – South Division
Frome Scorers Porter, Crossman, Pollock
MOM: Lunt
Frome Town U18 got off to a fantastic start in their first season back in the floodlit leagues for a number of years in this fiercely contested encounter against an athletic, pacey and well organised Cheddar side. Frome named a very similar side to the one that played in their FA youth cup fixture with the only changes seeing new signing Pollock come into the front three at the expense of playmaker Rudi who and fullback Carver coming in for the unavailable Trainer. In goal U16 youngster Rose who can also play centre back made his second start for the U18 side as Locke was unavailable and new signing Bond’s transfer was yet to go through.
Frome started the game superbly playing consistently in the Cheddar half with Pollock prominent with some driving runs down the right. Frome got a number of throw-ins and corners during this time but the throw-ins in particular were not particularly productive. The Frome midfield of Seviour, Lunt & Mori, were very effective in getting themselves onto the ball and turned off the buildups involving the keeper and defenders and then creating overloads with clever 1v1 dribbles. Mori in particular showed some nice 1v1 skills. Where Frome were slightly off was with their final ball with quite a few diagonals & attempted slide rule passes just being slightly over hit, also not helped by the wet surface.
However, such was the volume of Frome’s possession that some of the numerous through passes found their target, with both Crossman and Pollock being put clean through, only to not manage to convert. Cheddar for their part would often switch play across the back before playing direct forward passes, which caused Frome’s rather smallish side issues as in previous games. This led to a succession of free kicks as Frome dealt with the high balls poorly and conceded a number of fouls when trying to deal with what should have been relatively simple defensive situations. However, Rose’s handling of crosses in goal was impeccable and he dominated his box to diffuse any danger. FTR take the lead Frome finally got a deserved break-through when Seviour’s rasping shot from the edge of the box forced the Cheddar keeper into a good save but the rebound was slammed home by Porter for 1-0. A cross from the right side was then put over the bar from close range by Crossman. Within minutes however Crossman made no mistake from a similar situation as another cross from the right side was side footed home by him for 2-0.
RED
In addition, Cheddar got a red card to one of their players just before the HT whistle to give Frome a 2-goal lead and man advantage going into the second half.
The second half Frome panic. Within 10 seconds of the restart Cheddar pulled a goal, back as a catalogue of errors including a midfielder slipping and defenders playing a short back-pass to Rose in goal who also slipped trying to bail the defender out before a Cheddar player rolled the ball into the empty net! Frome then did get some control back and created plenty of chances but also were guilty of trying to force passes rather than travelling with the ball and committing a man before passing, something to be looked at in training along with 1v1 finishing patterns as Pollock, Crossman (thrice), Lunt (after a driving run) all failed to beat the keeper 1v1 although buildup and the runs made in all these cases was excellent.
Seviour missed the ball by inches on the far post with the goal gaping and Rudi who was now on as a sub in false 9 also had a 1v1 saved. Rudi showed some very good linking play after coming on as sub and created several chances for himself and teammates with good movement and perceptive passing. The other subs Cagilaba and Mead also gave solid performances after coming on. Frome finally killed off the game after Pollock beat the Cheddar keeper to a ball he was attempting to sweep up and from a wide position with the goal empty Pollock chipped the ball into the empty net from 30 yards to seal the game for Frome 3-1.
Frome’s possession play and chance creation was very good in this game. The areas to work on would be the detail of the phase of incision in particular the ability of the team to break the lines with accurate passes and runs along with better 1v1 finishing. As has been mentioned previously defensively Frome need work all over the park but in fairness, training to this point has predominantly focused on building play through each third rather than defensive shape when out of possession. Overall an excellent performance.
MOM: Lunt
Team: Rose, Carver, Boulton, Pack, Brewster, Mori, Lunt, Seviour©, Pollock, Porter, Crossman
Subs: Mead Cagilaba Rudi Dugout: Fosu Gharban(M), Rich Gould