Match Report – Frome Town 1 – 0 Basingstoke Town – Saturday 21st October 2017
On a day which took us over 3hrs to get to Frome by train. Things certainly didn’t improve from there.
Terry Brown made a number of changes to the starting line-up; with McAdden in goal, a back four of Wohlfiel, Hollamby, Bayliss & new-loanee Leslie Sackey. A midfield of Collier, Kennedy (Captain) and McKnight, whilst up front was Wright, Argent & Bunting.
On the bench: Johnson-Schuster, Smart, Artwell, Demuria & Bennett.
Pitch report – When fans were expecting a boggy pitch, it was the exact opposite. The grass was about 6 inches high in most places
With the first few minutes and both teams trying to get use to the strong wind very little happened.
That was on until the 6th minute when Frome broke, the ball reached a Frome forward inside the box. Somehow, he was given enough time and space to turn and fire the ball past the defence and the keeper and again Stoke were trailing away from home.
Little was we to know that on 13 mins, that our best chance of the game would come and go, when the ball from the right wing fell to Sam Argent, whose shot, which was goal bound, was superbly saved by the Frome keeper.
Both teams continued to struggle with the wind over the next 15 minutes and there was very little to report as both teams failed to produce any attacks of note.
On 30 mins, McAdden is required to make two saves in as many minutes to keep the home team from scoring again.
Then on 40 mins, Bunting puts the ball over the Frome back four for Argent to run onto, but the ball gets held up in the long grass and a Frome defender manages to clear the ball.
Halftime: Frome Town 1 – 0 Basingstoke Town.
Two attacks by Stoke in the first five minutes of the second-half by Argent & McKnight both fail to threaten the Frome goal.
The next 15 mins seem to drift by, with very little control of the ball, until McAdden makes two more saves from Frome breaks.
Basingstoke make a double change as Smart & Artwell replace Wright & Bunting.
Still very little to note, but Smart is hacked down twice in a minute and the Frome defender goes in the book. A minute later another defender goes in the book after a foul on Artwell.
Smart is trying his best to liven things up, but fails to get a clear shot on goal and yet again the ball is cleared.
That’s about it as the ref blows the final whistle and Stoke fail again to pick up any points on the road.
Final Score: Frome Town 1 – 0 Basingstoke Town; Attendance 218
Yet another dismal performance on the road and no sign of this being turned around, as we slip to 16th in the league.
Oh and yet another 3 1/2 hr journey home to really end the day off.
Ian please come back and report on theses away games as it’s getting tougher and tougher to do?
Match Report – Martin French
English 
Polish 