Frome Town booked their place in the next round of the FA Cup after overcoming a resilient Easington Sports team, who gave a fantastic account of themselves over the two games.
A blitz of first half goals from Pierce Mitchell and Evra Yao were enough to ensure the Robins would play at least another game in everyone’s
favourite competition.
That wasn’t before The Clan gave us another early scare through Leam Howard’s, who in the 6th minute, picked the ball up on the left hand side of the box and curled a beauty up and over Kyle Phillips, a sense of deva vu from the last game.
Danny Greaves side knew they had to get back in to this one as soon as possible, you could sense a slight nervous feel around the ground, following the setback, as the home side tried to work their way back in to the game.
A lot of the threat came from wingbacks Joe O’Loughlin and Ethan Vaughan, who were both starting their first game since signing last week, along side Yao, with Matt Smith and Matt Wood making up five changes to the side that couldn’t quite do the job in Oxfordshire last Saturday, the fresh legs certainty helped the BA11 side to sustain pressure for longer periods and they were finally rewarded from a set piece in the 14th minute.
Albie Hopkins whipped in a dangerous free-kick, which caused absolute chaos, there were appeals from Sam Teale and Wood that the ball had already crossed the line, but Mitchell was alert to ensure it did, stabbing the ball home, sending a sense of relief around the stadium.
The goals were like London buses, you don’t get one for ages then two come along at once, as almost just a minute later, Yao got on to the end of a cross, guiding a header past Max Treml.
It appeared things had clicked a bit more and the hosts were playing some liquid football, James Ollis was played through by Yao, opening his body up he sent his effort wide, but would have been relieved to see the linesman raise his flag.
The 44th minute came around and the passing and movement was on another level. Yao flicked a ball through to O’Loughlin who fizzed a ball in to Hopkins who met it sweetly but could only divert it wide.
The first half performance gave the team something to build on, in the second half and I’m sure manager Danny Greaves would have liked a few more goals in the second half to make it a little more comfortable.
The intention was clearly there as it was a fast start and should have been three as in the 47th minute, Vaughan clipped a ball in to Ollis, who diverted it towards goal but not beyond Treml who pushed it out for a corner.
That corner led to a scramble in the box as the visitors struggled to clear, it was block after block and somehow not a single effort made its way in.
Vaughan was the next to go close, his performance deserved a goal, but he couldn’t quite keep his back post half volley down and it sailed over.
Despite the countless chances, the away side managed to weather the storm and were still in the tie and started to show some attack intent of their own as Ethan Champkins struck a free-kick over the wall forcing a decent but routine save for Phillips.
There wasn’t a whole lot of action between then and full time, Frome found themselves under the cosh especially towards the last ten minutes, although Easington failed to create any clear cut chances of their own, it wasn’t as comfortable as it perhaps should have been.
However, it doesn’t matter if you win 6-0 or 2-1, either way you’re through to the next round and yesterday’s win confirms we’ll face Larkhall at Badgers Hill on the 14th of September.
Before that though, we return to league action, with an away trip to Dorchester next up, it’s certainly one you won’t want to miss.
Match report and live updates by Harrison Richards
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Well, the Robins are through but it was a less than convincing performance I have to say. The biggest compliment I can give Easington is that it was impossible to tell which team played at two levels higher? They played very well indeed but just lacked that killer instinct to force the game into extra time against a team who by then had become very ragged and a little desperate. In fact , Easington dominated the final 25 minutes with us rather hanging on. They can go back to Oxfordshire with their heads held high.
There were positives - The back three of Tealie, ‘The Bruiser’ & Woody all played well. Pierce even poached himself a goal. Buddy was very…