Steve Jupp, BA11's Club Historian, provides his final preview of the season as all eyes turn to the big one at Badgers Hill.
It's the last and most important game of a long season on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon as Badgers Hill stages, for the very first time, the Southern League Division One South play-off final as The Farmy Army come to town for the second time in little over a week.
After one or two stuttering displays, Danny Greaves' side hit all the right notes in Wednesday's clinical 3-0 semi-final mauling of Mousehole and they will be looking to carry that level of performance over to avenge a painful night suffered here two years ago.
It was Manor Farm who, coming from one-down, dashed Frome's promotion hopes in a frustrating and ultimately chastening play-off semi, one of four most recent visits to The Hill where they have left unbeaten.Â
That said, the Robins have developed the healthy habit in this fixture of saving or winning games with very late goals, culminating in that dramatic 3-3 draw last week which preserved their magnificent home record.Â
Both sides come into this final on the back of a string of more than decent results. Frome are unbeaten since early February, a run of FIFTEEN matches while Farm have won SIX of their last SEVEN, including that 2-1 triumph at Cribbs in the semi.Â
No club has more recent play-off experience than the Portwaymen for only twelve months ago, which many may have forgotten, they defeated Saltash 2-0 in an inter-step play-off in order to maintain their Southern League status.
With yet another bumper attendance expected on Monday, who would have envisaged in their wildest dreams that Frome Town would play in front of four-figure crowds FOUR games running? Surely the gate will exceed a season's best of 1,305 for the Torquay Trophy tie which in itself was the biggest Badgers Hill gathering (for a competitive match) since 1969 when 2,270 crammed-in for an FA Cup visit from Bath City.
This is matchday number 50 of a memorable campaign (107 goals scored and counting!), and one more victory will make it a truly magnificent season. The team, bidding for another tilt at Step Three, performed like a Premier Division outfit against Mousehole and with fabulous backing from the faithful on a filthy night, home advantage played a crucial part in getting over the line and extending that awesome run here to just ONE defeat in THIRTY.
Had results been combined for the two Covid-curtailed campaigns, Frome would have been champions. They nearly won the league in 2022, nearly made the play-offs last year, nearly became champions this.Â
It's now time to win the prize of promotion and lose that 'nearly' tag.
Strap yourselves in for this latest and biggest edition of the Frome-Farm super-classico... extra time and penalties may be required.
Save yourself some time and purchase your ticket for Monday's play-off final by clicking on the link below!
There's no doubt that BMF were the better side in that league game and they were well ahead on points ( so to speak ) until we hit them with that late double, culminating in Reece Rusher's superb pile-driver for the leveller. But..I have to say that they looked a side in prime form and there's no doubt that it's going to be a huge task for us to win this game.
In that league game we gave them too much encouragement with our defending - giving them two silly free kicks on the edge of our box...and how they punished us with two superb strikes. Then, 'The Cat' made a very uncharacteristic error and another superb finish puts…
I think it's appropriate at this point in the season to thank all of our pre and post match commentaries. Congratulations and thank you to, Steve, Harrison and Zeb for creating such informative and interesting articles that have kept all of our fans up to date and engaged during this epic season.
Good luck to the team on Monday and thank you so much to all of the volunteers who help to make match days so special; working in the turnstiles, serving the tea & coffee, selling draw tickets, programmes or club merchandise. Our very special tannoy announcer who keeps us all informed and entertained on match days. The chairman and his board of directors and so many more that…