Frome Town faced a challenging outing, as they suffered defeat away to Merthyr Town.
After a resilient first half, in which they held the hosts to a goalless draw, the Robins saw the Welsh side surge in the second half with four goals, propelling them up to second in the league.
Danny Greaves made three changes to the side that earned a 2-2 draw with Walton & Hersham on Tuesday, with Pierce Mitchell and Albie Hopkins returning to the XI alongside Curtis Hutson who replaced Ethan Vaughan and Alex Monks, who missed out through suspension, whilst James Ollis also dropped to the bench due to having a slight muscle injury.
As you would expect, the hosts dominated possession early on, and nearly had an opening down the left-hand side as Noah Smerdon found a yard of space in the box, but a poor touch let the ball roll just out of play,
Five minutes later, Lewys Twamley linked up with Roy Simpson up front with a nice move, but the latter’s effort was blocked by Pierce Mitchell.
Then in the 15th minute, the home side somehow didn’t take the lead, after Simpson was denied by Kyle Phillips following a corner, it fell to Thomas Handley, who headed on to the bar from close range with the whole goal gapping.
After that moment, it was the Robins who had a chance in the 19th minute, following a Phillips long ball, it eventually made its way over the Merthyr defence where Hutson was able to use his pace to beat them and the keeper to the ball, though it was a tricky finish, as he attempted to loft it over Jaimie Cogman, but his effort went just wide.
Frequent injuries to the home side, who had to make two early substitutions because of this, slowed the pace of the game to Frome’s benefit right up until the half-time whistle.
Paul Michael had his side well out before the start of the second half, almost like he was sending a message, and having his side prepped way before the start of the 45, nearly paid dividends as 20 seconds in to the half, Simpson worked the ball through to Handley, who fired a ball across the six yard box, with it somehow not being turned in by an attacker.
However, that chance wasn’t rued for long, as six minutes later, Twamley snuck in behind Frome’s defence and fired past Phillips.
After the opener, Frome had to be braver in attack, but that subsequently lead to more openings for the Martyrs, who found themselves two goals up on the hour mark, after a good save from Phillips, Simpson of all people tapped in the rebound.
The Robins huffed and puffed and nearly pulled a goal back in the 75th minute, when Rex Mannings managed to dig a cross out down the left, with the ball reaching Zak Drew at the back-post, he attempted to play it back across to substitute Josiah McKayle, but the effort was just out of the striker’s reach, and the attack faded to nothing.
Cole Jarvis then all but sealed the three points with a finish in the 86th minute, before Ricardo Rees wrapped things up in the 92nd minute, with a smart finish following a counterattack.
To end what’s been a difficult October, we face Brislington in the Somerset Cup, a chance to progress in a cup competition and a chance to gain some momentum, but we’ll need all the fans behind us if we are to do so.
Live updates and match report written by Harrison Richards
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I don't think many of us expected too much from this game. Merthyr looked very sharp at 'The Hill.' Ethan and Monksie were a big loss as they have been our two best players recently. This was not an ideal game for an 18year old. Essentially, we can''t compete with teams in the top tier. We are just not at that level . Our aim is simple - stay up! We need some of the troops back - Joe & Healy for sure.
Sholing up next, followed by Winchester, which is a real 6 pointer. We simply have to get some points on the board as the teams around us have started to win games! Marlow achieved their first w…