This weekend sees us take on Bashley, so let's look back on our first ever clash in a home Southern League Premier Division clash in January 2012. With the match report from Colin Carpenter.
Frome Town and Bashley played out a very entertaining 1-1 draw in a match which had a bit
of everything , with Frome taking the honours in the first half and Bashley dominating for much
of the second and perhaps a little unlucky not to take all three points back to Hampshire.
On mild, calm night, the match kicked off with Frome quickly out of the blocks, but the first
chance fell to Bashley as Luke Whitley fired just wide following a right wing corner in the 3rd
minute, but then Frome immediately replied as Dean Evans crossed from the right, but the ball
just evaded the head of young Lloyd Matthews by a few millimeters.
Evans and Matthews were starting to combine well as a mobile strike force and the 7th minute
saw Evans flick a long range header past the post, and in the 13th minute, a brilliant turn
inside the box by Matthews left three Bashley defenders for dead, but as he pulled the ball
back from the dead ball line, Ben Thomson's shot was mis-hit and the chance was cleared by
the defence.
At this stage it was all about Frome attacking, Matthews latched onto a through ball in the
16th minute but couldn't quite find the right cross, Evans was inches away from sliding home
a Matt Smith header and two minutes later a long range Evans header was saved by Stewart
Kearn in the visitors goal.
A Bashley attack in the 22nd minute led to a very brave block by a defender to stop a close
range goal bound shot and luckily the rebound was blasted well over the club house to keep
the scores level.
The 26th minute saw an excellent move that very nearly resulted in a goal for Frome.
Matthews harried a defender to win the ball on the right wing, then played the ball back to
Mike Perrott who hit the perfect first time cross that was full of pace and swing and picked out
Evans on the far side of the 6 yard box, but the glanced header just shaved the outside of the
post and the chance went begging.
Matt Smith produced the pass of the night two minutes later as he produced a beauty out to
Thomson on the right wing, who then cut inside and hit a low cross that Kearn did well to
smother at the feet of the onrushing forwards.
Mike Reaney did very well to just nick the ball off of James Stokoe's toe as the Bashley striker
looked to be clean through in the 34th minute, but then Frome's pressure paid off five minutes
later as Matthews picked the ball up just inside the Bashley half, wriggled through two
challenges and played a perfect ball along the ground to Evans, who then turned inside his
man and produced a shot that went under Kearn and into the far corner of the net to give
Frome a deserved lead that they held until half time.
The second half started in a much more even manner, but Frome still looked very dangerous
on the break and an early Matthews shot curled just past the far post as Evans covered a
huge amount of ground to very nearly get a final touch. The 55th minute saw Thomson break
on the left and a low, firm shot across goal only just evaded Smith and Evans who were both
sliding in to apply the finishing touch.
Slightly against the run of play, Bashley equalised in the 58th minute as Matt Vokes hit a right
foot screamer from 10 yards outside the Frome box, with the ball taking a deflection that
produced a wicked swerve on the ball that brought it back in two yards and buried itself in the
top corner, with Darren Chitty very close to getting a hand on the ball.
A tackle by Smith in the 62nd minute provoked an angry reaction from Bashley and resulted in
a yellow card for the Frome midfielder, and then an excellent Perrott run two minutes later
from inside his own half saw him beat two defenders and shoot just wide of the far post. A few
inches the other way would have resulted in a contender for goal of the season and would
have given him his first goal of the season.
Controversy flared in the 61st minute as Dean Flockton appeared to take down a Bashley
forward in the Frome penalty area. The referee immediately pointed to the spot, but the Frome
team protested the decision, and after the referee consulted his linesman, the decision was
cancelled and a corner was given, presumably due to the fact that the ball had already gone
out of play or that Flockton had actually played the ball.
Chitty made a great save in the 82nd minute as a Bashley ball was swept in towards the far
post, and three minutes later Perrott and Bashley's Jack Smith were involved in a tussle that
resulted in a yellow for Perrott, but could easily have resulted in two red cards on another
night.
The last five minutes of normal time and five minutes of injury time saw Bashley almost totally
in control and Frome desperately defending en masse, with only a break by Luke Ballinger in
the 89th minute that brought appeals for a penalty breaking up the pattern.
The final whistle went at the end of a very entertaining game which very easily have gone
either way and given everything that happened, a draw was probably the fairest result.
Ben Thomson was awarded with the man of the match award by representatives of long term
sponsors H&B Tyres who sponsored the match. Team Darren Chitty
Mike Reaney
Mark Cooper
Dean Flockton
Tom Evans
Alex Lapham
Matt Smith
Dean Evans
Lloyd Matthews (Ricky Hulbert)
Mike Perrott
Ben Thomson (Luke Ballinger)
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