Frome Town ran away with their pre-season friendly against Clevedon Town, scoring four in an inspiring second half away from home. Two each for striker James Ollis and substitute forward Marcus Day and a memorable finish from Jayden Nielsen. The Western League side who missed out in the play-offs last year competed bravely for an hour, but the Robins flexed their considerable muscle up front to cap an encouraging night.
On seventeen minutes, Ollis sniffed out a chance, skating goalwards and outpacing the defenders to meet Matt Smith’s ball beyond the defensive line. The Seasider's goalkeeper was too hesitant to come out and the striker finished cleanly to give the Robins a lead. Clevedon gained confidence throughout the first half though, stitching together some neat passes and a clever interchange saw Kyle Phillips called into action with a smart reaction stop.
Up until the hour-mark, the game had been bobbling along with little in the way of direction and Frome’s performance had been workmanlike, but a thunderous finish from new signing Jayden Nielsen blew the doors off the fixture. The former Manor Farm man had made some barnstorming runs throughout the evening, but left his mark on the scoresheet when he drilled past the keeper at the near post to double the lead.
As one of a raft of substitutions made use before the Nielsen strike, Marcus Day made a near-immediate impact. Taking the long way round the defenders, having cut in from the left, he finished nonchalantly in the bottom corner. Already the former Taunton Town man, looks more up to speed than he did in the loan spell last season, decent as it was.
There was to be no let-up in the final ten minutes, when again Day launched himself at the centre-backs whose only response was to back away. The winger failed to heed the pleas for a pass from the attacking cohort, and rightly so it seemed, when he buried the ball into the net for his brace.
With two minutes to go, Ollis was not going to be outdone by his fellow forward. From the farcical to the sublime, the striker managed to miscue his volley, but retrieved the ball and found the net with a shot on the pivot to give Frome their fifth.
This was not just ‘minutes in the legs’ (as the customary mantra behind pre-season at all levels of football goes) but signs of an attack in rude health, burgeoning combinations at the top of the pitch and the class of the finishes in that second-half will leave the Frome fans who made the trip that much more excited.
Don't miss the chance to secure your admission to our pre-season friendlies at home, starting with our matches against Bath City and Swansea City U21s. Season Tickets can also be found on the Fanbase app and website!
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