Frome Town endured a gruelling defeat to Somerset rivals Taunton Town.
Familiar names from last season, David Duru and Owen Brain, scored the vitals goal for The Peacocks and despite the home side not having too many clear cut chances, it’s a result they may have perhaps felt hard done by with.
It was always going to be an interesting affair, with The Robins for the first time this season, playing a newly relegated side, but with familiar names amongst the management and squad, the challenges they had to prevail over of time wasting from minute one and eleven men behind the ball were present when facing Cribbs last season, so it certainly was a task Danny Greaves and his team were used to facing.
Regardless of the circumstances, the home side went toe to toe and were by far the better team in the first half, feeling they probably should have gone in to the break at least a goal to the good.
Matt Smith was the man who was pulling the strings early on, feeding a pass out to the right which was launched in to James Ollis who’s quick turn and shot was blocked - with the linesman’s flag also being raised in the process.
The host’s continued to cause the travellers plenty of problem’s, this time down the left hand side as Warren Maidment launched a long throw in, it turned to head tennis as the centre half managed to make his way in to the box, he was bundled over unpunished, as the ball fell to Smith on the edge of the box, who probably caught his volley too well with his strike straight down Adam Parkes throat.
Frome kept the threat up in the 19th minute, with the Taunton defenders backing off Marcus Day, he was able to go a distance down the touchline before cutting inside - firing a wayward shot wide of the post.
Regardless of the early dominance, there weren’t many clear cut chances until the 36th minute, when Day attempted to catch Parkes out with a free-kick from distance, though the keeper was able to recover to stop the initial effort, he could only parry to Ollis, who was the quickest to react, and even with the whole goal gaping, he got underneath his effort, firing on to the crossbar.
Another golden chance came and went through Ollis again, with Day showing off his twinkle toes down the left, he chopped inside and fired an effort which deflected and looped on to Ollis’ head, gambling correctly once again but getting his header all wrong.
Then in the 41st minute, through their first shot on target in the game, Taunton took the lead against the run of play, through Duru who capitalised on an unfortunate slip at the back, curling past a helpless Kyle Phillips.
It was difficult to get going at any point during the second half, with the opposition wasting time at any given opportunity, preventing Frome from getting any rhythm at all, with the best chances coming from set pieces, with Day winning and whipping one just wide of the far post in the 65th minute.
Substitute Sam Heal then did sublimely well five minutes later to create an opening down the left, fizzing a ball across the box, it beat the keeper but not Eddie Jones who scampered it clear at the back post.
A minute later, Owen Brain doubled the deficit with a smart finish from the right hand side, causing some rather wild, over the top and demeaning celebrations from some - you’d have thought the Champions League was heading to the Cygnet Health Care Stadium with the way someone acted after that goal.
The Robins gave it a good go for the remainder of the game but Luffman’s natural 5-5-0 formation proved unbeatable in the end, with some further playing acting from Charlie Dashfield and late substitutes killing any late momentum Frome tried to build, ultimately sealing all three points for the visitors.
It’s been a tough start to life back in the Southern Premier League, but it’s time to dust ourselves down and prepare for a big FA Cup clash against Easington Sports and we'd love to see plenty of you cheering the team on.
Match report and live updates by Harrison Richards
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As of this morning we are in the relegation zone, after our third consecutive home defeat. Very sobering this after our ‘glory’ year of last season. Clearly we need to improve but football is all about fine margins and one of those ‘margins’ is ‘taking your chances,’ or suffer the consequences if you don’t. This sums up the Taunton game perfectly. In a tight game, getting that first goal can be vital and we have found ourselves behind now in all three home games.
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