Frome Town closed the gap at the top of the Southern League Division One table to two points with a convincing victory over AFC Totton.
Totton came into the game in a rich vein of form having not conceded in 5 games but Frome took the game to their visitors from the off. Dan Cottle created a great chance for himself in the 10th minute, rounding the goalkeeper only to see his shot rebound off the inside of the post before Jon Davies broke the deadlock against one of his former aides with a long range free kick deceiving the goalkeeper and leaving him stranded on the wrong side of his goal.
A Cottle volley then struck the visitors cross bar before Davies scored his second, and the goal of the game, beating half the Totton side and riding two rough tackles to score into the corner with the outside of his right foot on 34 minutes and the visiting goalkeeper made excellent saves from O’Loughlin, Smith and Davies again to keep the score down to 2-0 at half time.
After such a display it was no surprise that the second half was less entertaining, perhaps with half an eye on Tuesday nights top of the table clash against Thatcham in mind.
Frome did still control the game without the same attacking intensity and remained solid in defence as usual. Dan Cottle was fortunate to escape a second yellow card for a late tackle and was immediately substituted for Kane Simpson who led the line well and was unfortunate not to score when once again the shot was saved by the woodwork.
As Frome played out time and Totton pressed forward, however a long pass saw Davies released 1v1 against the goalkeeper and carrying the ball from halfway he made no mistake with a deft lob to secure his hat-trick and secure another valuable 3 points. MOM: Jon Davies
Att: 209
