EVO-STIK LEAGUE SOUTHERN PREMIER DIVISION: AFC Totton 2 Frome Town 0 (From Wiltshire Times)

EVO-STIK LEAGUE SOUTHERN PREMIER DIVISION: AFC Totton 2 Frome Town 0

9:35am Wednesday 13th March 2013 in Sport

FROME Town were unable to build on their crucial victory over Hitchin Town last weekend as they were beaten at AFC Totton last night.

Buoyed by their win on Saturday, Frome were keen to start the match much quicker than they had against Hitchin, and they came out of the blocks with real purpose. 

The first five minutes saw Luke Ballinger cut in and shoot wide while Mitch Bryant had a curling effort just deflected for a corner.

Darren Jefferies burst into the Totton box only to be bundled over by a defender, but play was waved on.

Successive corners around the 13th minute led to Ballinger force Ross Casey to save low, and then the winger set up Bryant for a shot which was blocked.

Jefferies got behind the Totton defence in the 22nd minute but Casey again smothered the ball, and just afterwards, another flowing move saw Bryant volley just past the post.

After half an hour, the storm seemed to subside and Totton started to come into the match.

Jamie Rudd saw a volley cannon off Matt Clark for a corner, and then Rudd again caused problems as his right wing cross was headed over the bar by Stefan Brown.

And then Brown himself set up James Coutts for a shot and it was starting to look a little ominous for Frome.

Ballinger was taken out very late by Totton full back Ryan Hill in the 43rd minute, and as the defender had already picked up a yellow for a foul on Jordan Copp, it looked as if the home side would go down to ten men, but the referee decided otherwise and he stayed on the pitch.

Just at the worst psychological moment, Totton scored in the 44th minute as Brown won the ball in midfield, strode forward and unleashed a shot that flew past Darren Chitty from the edge of the penalty area.

The goal seemed to take the impetus out of Frome, and though they started the second half with purpose, there seemed to be a desperation in the final third, with shots became increasingly long range and less accurate.

Chitty had to save low from Chris Mason in the 55th minute and a minute later, Mason latched onto a poor clearance and sent a 30-yarder onto the Frome bar, with the Frome goalie scrambling back.

The 67th minute saw mass protests as Totton got the ball in the net after the linesman had flagged for offside.

The referee allowed play to carry on, then disallowed the goal, then the linesman appeared to award it but eventually, the goal was disallowed.

Frome’s substitutions made little impact, and Totton eventually sealed the match when Bailey Cargill thundered in a great goal from 25 yards in the 81st minute.

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