On Tuesday night we see National League side Weymouth up next at the hill and our Club Historian Steve Jupp has been busy finding out more about our history with the Terras…
We last crossed swords with Weymouth back in March 2019 in a Southern League Premier Division encounter at Badgers Hill with the visitors, destined for promotion, running out 2-0 winners.
The two sides met regularly during Frome’s eight-year stint in that division with the record being: -
Played…………..……16
Frome wins…………. 5
Draws…………………2
Weymouth wins…..…9
Perhaps the most dramatic two-minute spell of any of those clashes occurred in the home Boxing Day fixture of 2011 when a no quarter given contest came to the boil early in the second half with the Terras being awarded a penalty.
Up stepped Warren Byerley but Darren Chitty was equal to it, saving superbly to his right but the drama wasn’t over as the Weymouth striker lunged for the loose ball only to be tripped by Josh Brigham’s outstretched leg.
Another penalty and a red card for Brigham but the Badgers Hill faithful amongst the crowd of 535 were soon in raptures as Byerley blasted spot kick number two wide and the ten men in red defended resolutely for the rest of the match which ended as one of those rare entertaining goalless draws.
The Frome line-up that afternoon: -
1 DARREN CHITTY
2 JOSH BRIGHAM
3 MARK COOPER
4 DEAN FLOCKTON
5 TOM EVANS
6 ALEX LAPHAM
7 MATT SMITH
8 DEAN EVANS
9 RICKY HULBERT
10 MIKE PERROTT
11 BEN THOMSON
How quickly football fortune can change for within just two seasons of competing as equals in 2018-19, Frome (Southern League Division One South) and Weymouth (National League) found themselves three levels apart.
There was an even bigger gap back in 1987 when the Robins, struggling at the wrong end of the Western League, were paired with the top of the Conference (National League today)Terras in the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.
Badgers Hill was stunned when Ken Airey gave Frome a second minute lead and when an Owen Smith header put them 2-1 up in the second half, the impossible looked tantalizingly possible. Weymouth woke up, however, to force a replaywhich they went on to win 3-0 at their spanking brand-newWessex Stadium in front of over 1,500.
That figure was dwarfed some 33 years earlier by the second largest crowd ever to pack Badgers Hill when 4,039 witnessed a famous 3-1 Frome victory over Weymouth in the Fourth Qualifying Round which led to the even more famous Leyton Orient cup tie.
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