FROME Town’s excellent start to the season showed serious signs of de-railing as they slumped to their second defeat in four days with a 3-0 loss at Stratford Town.

Mitchell Page returned to the side after suspension, forcing Jake Jackson to drop to the bench meanwhile Marcus Mapstone took his place at the centre of defence alongside Nathan Summers.

Frome were hoping to bounce back from a 4-0 home loss during the week at the hands of Dorchester.

With Frome looking to bounce back after their 4-0 horror show against Dorchester in midweek, they threatened in the first minute as a Jon Davies cross wasn’t dealt with allowing Dan Cleverly to hit a deflected shot out for a corner.

As the match progressed, Frome looked the most likely to break the deadlock, winning several corners in quick succession and a Page header from a Davies cross forcing a save from the home goalkeeper.

With Frome still having the bulk of the attacking play, it came as a bit of shock when Stratford took the lead in the 32nd as Richard Gregory dived low to head home a Simeon Tullock cross.

The remainder of the half led to no further incidents, although Page picked up a yellow on 40 minutes which was to prove crucial in the second half.

Stratford made it 2-0 in the 62nd as a corner was swung in, nobody really took charge to deal with the threat and Stratford’s Edwin Ahenkorah bundled it home from close range Five minutes later, Frome had a mountain to climb as Page was shown a second yellow for a needless foul that invited the referee to reach for his notebook, meaning he will now suffer another one match suspension having just returned from a three match suspension.

For the second match in a row, Frome found themselves chasing a 2-0 deficit and despite attacking substitutions, the numerical disadvantage told and they were restricted to one scoring chance as a Darren Jefferies header hit the bar in the 80th minute.

Frustration and indiscipline were starting to get the better of the team, with Chris Gregan, and Clayton Green both getting yellow cards, and in the end Stratford sealed a good, hard working win with a goal from Edi Mbunga in the 87th as he shot home from 10 yards through a stationary Frome defence.