A STRANGE red card, a missed penalty and a goal in each half in another classic cup tie led to a 1-1 draw between Frome and FA Cup specialists Chesham Utd.

With Chesham United obviously having one eye on their FA Cup date at Bradford City next Saturday, they would probably have preferred this game to have been postponed, but the pitch was slick and with blustery wind and rain throughout the match, the weather was certainly doing its bit to add to the occasion.

Frome were without the services of Jon Davies, Liam Monelle, Marcus Mapstone and Stuart Dickin, and with Corby Moore returning to Forest Green Rovers at the end of his loan spell, the side was once again re-shuffled, and new signing and eventual man of the match) Nathan Summers starting alongside Jordy Nkunga at the heart of the defence. Kris MIller returned from injury and took his place on the bench.

After an even opening few minutes, Frome went close from a corner as Mitchell Page flicked the ball on at the near post, but Nkunga’s effort at the far post ended up in the arms of Shane Gore.

Chesham responded with a lightning right-wing attack that ended with a cross that flew across the face of the home goal, and after 10 minutes they appealed unsuccessfully for a penalty as Barry Hayles went to ground, but the first big chance of the match arrived in the 13th minute as Tyler Sibbick beat the offside trap but couldn’t get his foot properly round the ball and the ball rolled harmlessly past the post from eight yards.

After the good start from Frome, Chesham moved into the driver's seat and the pressure told in the 22nd minute as a ball from Adam Martin found Ryan Blake with his back to goal inside the Frome area, and he controlled and passed back in one movement and Sam Youngs hit a low shot into the corner of the net giving Chitty no chance.

Mitchell Page went close for Frome shortly afterwards with an overhead kick that just shaved the far post, but then Chitty showed his class to bring off a brilliant save that denied Blake from 12 yards after a defensive mistake had allowed the shooting chance.

At this point, Chesham seemed quite content with their one-goal advantage and as the match moved towards half time, it was hard to see how Frome were going to get back into the match as the visitors defence seemed quite capable of dealing with anything thrown at them.

The start of the second half was more of the same, but as the match moved towards the hour mark, Frome seemed to step up a gear and looked like causing problems when they went forward.

But for the second FA Trophy match in a row, a red card changed the course of the game as Jordan Walker was shown a second yellow for what seemed like an innocuous tackle in which he won the ball, followed by an apparent enquiry regrading why he been penalised.

Frome’s justifiable outrage at this decision seemed to galvanise the remaining ten men into action and after Ricky Hulbert had blazed a shot across the goal, they were handed a lifeline as Page was floored in the penalty area, only for Darren Jefferies to hit a weak spot kick to the left of Gore that he had no real problems saving.

However, they did get back into the game two minutes later as a right wing attack and cross led to chaos in the Chesham area and Hulbert hammered the ball into the net from 10 yards to continue his rich scoring vein with his third goal in two games.

As the rain got heavier, the tackles got tastier and yellow cards bloomed with increasing frequency as both sides went for the winner, but Chitty ensured that Frome would remain in the draw with a brave save in the 79th as he dived into a sea of legs and a save with his legs from Adam Martin in the second minute of injury time was very special indeed.