Match Preview: Frome Town vs Basingstoke Town – Saturday 12th October 2024

Match Preview: Southern League Premier Division South
Frome Town vs Basingstoke Town
When: Saturday 12th October 2024 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Badgers Hill Stadium, Berkeley Road, Frome. BA11 2EH
Frome Town (The Robins), Avg 2024-25 Home Att 510

After our latest exit in the FA Trophy, we return to league action and another trip into Somerset, as we take on a Frome Town side that has yet to win at home.
The last time we played Frome was back in November 2019, and on a day that many fans wished to forget, as we slid to an 8-0 defeat in Somerset. The home game, never took place as the first wave of covid hit the country and the league was suspended in March 2020.

Our Opponents
The Robins are managed by Danny Greaves, who has just completed five years as Frome manager. Greaves, as a footballer came out of Tottenham’s youth ranks, and had a short career playing for Southend Utd & Cambridge Utd, before then starting his management career at Witham Town. His time at Frome included a critical time for the club, and continued to do more for the club off the field, coming to the club’s aid as our Financial Director for 3 seasons and more recently Director of Football activities.

Frome sit in twentieth place, one of the four relegation spots with a record of Pld 9 Won 1 Drawn 2 Lost 6 and 4pts. Their one win was on the opening day of the season a 1-0 victory at Gosport Borough. However, with just four league goals they are the league’s lowest goalscorers. They have also lost all four home league games. Their leading goalscorer with just two league goals is ex-Taunton Town striker Marcus Day who signed a permanent deal after a loan period last season. James Ollis, is a young exciting striker who has previously played for Mangotsfield & Thatcham Town. James McKayle is a young striker who joined from Bridgwater Utd in mid-August. Ex-Stokie Reece Rusher has been with the Robins for the past couple of seasons, but suffered an injury at the end of July, and will likely miss the game.

Central midfielder George Rigg, started his career at Bristol and Stoke City’s youth teams, before playing for Weymouth & Bath City, and joined from Chippenham Town in 2021. Matt Smith is a fan favourite since his return from Chippenham Town, but missed last season through a serious injury. Ethan Vaughan who can play in defence as well as midfield joined from Taunton Town at the start of this season, and is a product of Cardiff City’s academy. Aleks Monks is a all-round midfielder who came up through Bristol City’s academy and has been at Frome since 2018. Winger Curtis Jemmett-Hutson, was born in Wales, and is of Barbadian descent through his father, and has played for both Wales youth sides and the Barbadian national team in 2021. Zac Drew is an attacking midfielder who joined from Yate Town in 2022. It has also just been announced that the Robins have added 24 -year-old Rex Mannings from Chippenham Town on a month-long loan.

Sam Teale is the club captain, and is in his 10th season at the club. He’s known for his versatility and can play across any of the backline. There’s also Warren Maidment who has been at the club for some time after joining from Melksham Town. Young centre-back Matt Wood, joined from Shepton-Mallet after a dual-registration period last season. Pierce Mitchell is a defender who previously spent time at Swindon Supermarine, and has had stints at Yate Town and over 100 appearances at Taunton Town. Full-back Joe O’Loughlin has rejoined Frome after returning from Australia after making the decision to depart following him obtaining his master’s degree at Bath University in 2023.
In goal it is likely to be Kyle Phillips, regarded as one of the better keepers in the area, and who rejoined the Robins in the summer of 2023, having taken some time out of the game. Another option is Isaac Finch who is on a short-term loan from Bristol City.

Our Basingstoke Town Side
Following our FA Trophy loss at Taunton, we take that slightly smaller trip back into Somerset, to visit Frome Town, where our last visit, let’s just say did not end well.
With little league action across our league over the past two weeks, we remain in fifth place, with our league record at Pld 8 Won 4 Drawn 4 Lost 0 and 16pts. Our own away record sees us with five points out of a possible nine, with one win at (Plymouth), and two draws (Gosport & Totton). Although we have scored sixteen goals in the eight league games, goals have been hard to come by in recent weeks, and we will need both Liam Ferdinand (5 goals), and Nnamdi Nwachuku (4 goals), to open up Frome’s defensive backline. Dan Warre, who has been a creative striker once on the pitch, could push for a start this week if Dan thinks a change of attacking style is needed. Both George Reid & Brody Peart livened up the game in the second-half of last week and will be clearly pushing for a starting role too.

It now seems that Simon Dunn is not an automatic starter, whilst Rudy Allen & Max Smith seem to have nailed down two of the starting slots in the midfield, thus potentially leaving both Dunn and Ben Cook on the bench. D’Andre Brown who filled in at the left-wing back role, is also up for consideration.

Left sided defender Curtis Angell missed last week’s game through illness, but is expected to be back in the starting line-up tomorrow afternoon, and if we stay with the preferred three centre-backs, it will be Marcus Johnson-Schuster in the right-wing back role. The defence has only conceded eight goals, and much of this goes down to the three centre-backs, starting with current first choice captain Billy Upton, James Clark & Jack Ball. Josh Grant is a strong candidate to be on the bench alongside Scott Armsworth, who has been gaining match fitness at Uxbridge. Aleks Kokoszka is also another option, but he may well be part of the academy’s cup game this Friday afternoon. Simon Grant will be wearing the goalkeeper gloves once again tomorrow afternoon.

The fitness and playing status of Flynn Bolton & Jonny Efedje is still unclear as neither have been part of the match-day squad in recent games.

After the heavy rain earlier in the week, it is expected to be fine and dry down in Somerset tomorrow, and our side will need to be at its best, and find those much needed goals to come away with all three points.

Match Preview by Martin French..

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