Frome Town suffered an agonising defeat against fellow Robins Bracknell Town, a match that seemed like a proper taste of life in the Southern Premier League.
Dan Robert’s brace for the Berkshire outfit was ultimately the difference between the two sides, with the Somerset Robins unable to fully get going at any point during the 90.
Danny Greaves made a couple of changes to the side that were edged out by Merthyr Town on Tuesday, wing-backs Sam Heal and Zak Drew were named on the bench, with the experienced George Rigg earning his first start of the season alongside Curtis Hutson, who made his first start for The Robins after some impressive cameos on the bench.
Amongst the substitutes, was also new signing Evra Yao, who was named in the squad for the first time since permanently signing following his appearance as a trialist against Swansea U21’s.
Contrary to the Gosport and Merthyr game, Frome came out the blocks fast, James Ollis was red hot early, stinging the gloves of Michael Eacott in the 2nd minute, showing signs of the damage we can do.
Our number 18 was at the fore front of our early threat once again, as a ball across the box in the 5th minute wasn’t dealt with by the visitors, it reached Ollis, who fired towards goal, but a Bracknell body jumped in the way of his effort, he attempted to recycle the attack, but couldn’t pick a man out with his pass in to the box.
After a blistering start from the home side, fans probably thought we could win this one four/five nil – Bracknell managed to weather the early storm and started to find their feet in the game, working some much-needed possession from their perspective and earning a couple of set pieces which were for now comfortably delt with by Frome heads.
There were a couple of scares at the back with the likes of Sam Teale and Warren Maidment making some vital last-ditch blocks, whilst keeper Kyle Phillips also had to be alert at points to claim crosses and make some important saves.
A lot of the first half was the two sides cancelling each other out, with the away side also seeming rather desperate for a first half break through, with their third handball claim coming in the 36th minute, attacker Great Evans didn’t seem too pleased the decision was given as a foul against him however.
Towards the end of the half, Frome started to play as they did at the start of the game, with proper intent as Marcus Day went on a mazy run, he fired an effort that was ultimately blocked out for a corner, which would turn out to be the best chance of the half.
It was floated back stick towards Teale, who headed it across to Ollis, who couldn’t hit the target from close range and would have been disappointed to not at least test the keeper, right before proceedings were bought to a close for the half.
The away side returned from the break much more like the side we saw from last season, forcing Phillips in to a good save in the 55th minute from a deep cross, with the subsequent corner also reaching a blue head but that effort was skewed wide.
The visitors didn’t have to wait much longer for the opener however, as in the 57th minute Dan Robert’s, who had been a big problem all game, finished past Phillips after he was set up by Jordan Espirit before subsequently firing in to the far corner.
The home side then had Phillips to thank for keeping them in the game as just two minutes later, Evans was sent down the left, opening his body up, but unable to curl it out of the reach of Phillips who made a smart stop down his left.
Then out of nothing a mistake at the back saw Alex Monks pounce on the ball, squaring to Ollis who had the simplest of tasks of finishing in to an empty net to bring the scores level.
The match then seemed to get a bit stale from there on, although it was like that for the majority of the contest, Ive forced another decent stop from Phillips following a corner, but it appeared this game was going to be written in to the history books as one of those draws to forget.
However, Roberts had other ideas, after finding himself near enough one on one in the 81st minute, he kept his composure, sliding the ball past Phillips again, putting Frome on the brink of defeat in the battle of the Robins.
Despite throwing everything at it for the remaining 14 minutes, it wasn’t enough with no ball quite falling right for a Frome player, Zak Drew’s edge of the box half volley showed that, as it just didn’t quite fall right for him as he fired over in the 90th minute, with Danny Greaves men falling to consecutive defeats for the first time in a while
It was certainly a tricky start to life back in the Southern Premier League, playing three of the top six from last season, and it doesn’t get much easier with a trip to Chertsey on the cards, who have had a solid start to life at this level and we’ll have to be on it from the get go if we want anything from that game.
Match report and live updates by Harrison Richards
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After good displays against Gosport and Merthyr, the Robins came down to earth after a rather disappointing and sobering second home defeat in a week against a very savvy and organised Bracknell Town, who on balance deserved the points. They strangled and stifled the life out of us, who after a quick start and several good attempts/ half chances , mainly via Olliis, were kept in check and created very little until their leveller , which actually came as a bit of a surprise! Bracknell still had enough about them to go on and get the winner.
At no stage in the game did our midfield get on top, or were able to feed our talented front players with the…