Melksham Town FC

The Conigre venue was familiar to many of the Frome players who had started their careers at Melksham.

The Town’s Southern League opponents, some 3 divisions above the Town, opened strongly with Ben Thomson prominent up front and the home side struggling to retain possession on a difficult playing surface.
The first goal came on 25 minutes when an Alex Lapham’s near post corner was headed in by Frome’s Jamie Broom who found himself unmarked in the 6 yard box.

The home side responded with both Gary Higdon and Tom Robinson having efforts blocked although at the other end Frome’s Sean Bennison hit a couple of efforts narrowly wide as Frome pressed towards the end of the half.

Both managers rang the changes at half time and Frome took a 2-0 lead on 60 minutes when a ball over the top found a Frome player in space and with the Town appealing in vain for an offside decision Dean Evans swept the ball into the net.

On 72 minutes the homeside failed to deal with a huge clearance and Robin Hulbert latched onto the ball and calmly slotted the ball past Tom Drewitt to put Frome 3-0 ahead.

To their credit Melksham continued to try to pass the ball and one move saw Robinson hit his effort narrowly wide whilst substitute Rob Manning felt his shot had crossed the line before being cleared by a Frome defender.

In conclusion a very useful work out for both sides and next up for the Town is the long trip to Western League Premier side Ilfracombe in the Les Phillips trophy to face the side who won this competition last season .