Frome Town concluded their pre-season campaign with a credible victory over Swansea U21’s,
Marcus Day was on the scoresheet early again, but it was Alex Monks who struck in the second half, to ensure Frome Town went into the season off the back of a win.
With the start of the season just a week away, it was a chance for Danny Greaves to side an eleven that will potentially start at Gosport, today’s line-up saw a familiar back three of Sam Teale, Pierce Mitchell and Warren Maidment all start, and new boys Marcus Day and Albie Hopkins start on the wings.
It was a different test, playing against an academy side, who were certainly exceptional on the ball, but maybe lacked on the physical side which is an area Frome definitely exploited.
The away side dominated the ball early on but The Robins were firm in their challenges and found space in the wide areas which Day managed to exploit early on.
The former Taunton winger (and goalkeeper) found himself a yard on the right hand side before cutting in, and although the keeper got a glove, his strike was too powerful and it nestled in to the bottom corner.
The Swans didn’t let that goal affect them and showed plenty of promise going forward, they nearly got in behind in the 13th minute, but blasted an effort in to the side netting.
The visitors steady pressure finally paid dividends in the 27th minute, but in somewhat fortunate circumstances as their no.8 saw his cross fly straight in over Kyle Phillips - though I’m sure he’ll claim it was intentional!
As the first half clock was winding down, there was a late flurry of events, one which saw Mitchell put a strong challenge in to win the ball before Hopkins was eventually released down the right, he cut in on his left foot before curling his effort just wide of the left hand post.
As you would expect during pre-season there was a triple change at the break, Mitchell and Teale were replaced by the Matt duo of Wood and Goulding, whilst Day who impressed yet again was replaced by new signing Curtis Hutson, who looked lively on his debut.
There also appeared to be a slight change in shape without the ball compared to the first half where Frome sat in a solid 5 back with Ross Staley on the right and Sam Heal on the left, likely to neutralise the Welsh outfit.
The shape worked well all over the pitch as James Ollis nearly found the back of the net 55 minutes in, after blocking the Swansea keepers clearance, however after clearing in due course the Swans broke, forcing a confident save from Philipps.
The gaffer then made another triple change with Will Taylor and Matt Smith replacing Staley and Joe Budd, whilst Trialist A swapped places with Ollis.
There were plenty of half chances throughout the second half but nothing quite fell, it seemed like it was going to take something special to win the game and that is exactly what Alex Monks provided in the 74th minute.
He picked the ball up outside the box and wrapped it straight in to the top corner, leaving the keeper no chance.
Just eight minutes later, Hutson thought he found himself through after beating the defender to the ball, flicking it past him but he was met with a nasty boot towards the face, the referee rightly played on as Hopkins picked the pieces up but couldn’t quite hook his cross in to the path of Smith and it was evident that the game was petering out.
The match concluded, as the boss described, a frustrating pre season, with injuries, unavailability and player’s joining and leaving, slightly hampering preparations for the season, however that won’t affect the mentality that the gaffer and the player’s will have heading in to the season.
It’s Gosport Borough away next week, who lost out to Salisbury in the play-off semi final last year, it’s a tough start in a particularly tough league, adding in the challenge of facing against former Premier League strikers, we certainly go into the season as underdogs, but if anyone’s likely to surprise the league it’s certainly this bunch.
Match report and live updates by Harrison Richards
Now the fixture list is out and the tickets for the first couple of months of home fixtures are ready for purchase, you can secure entry in advance on the FanBase app and website (link below)
Well done Harrison - good to have you back, you old 'Henry Winter' you. As one of our three top sports scribes we are indeed fortunate to have covered this base so thoroughly and you do a fine job along with Juppy and Zeb 'Martin Jenkins.'
Talking of Zeb I was looking at his site / blog recently - at all of his pictures when he was in India following the England Cricket team. Fascinating stuff. He was a right long - haired layabout in those days and he was lucky a stork didn't nest in that beard of his.
Good preseason all in all I thought and even though we got 'duffed up' a couple of times by hi…