Frome Town 1   Andover 1 Gomes (82) Sadler (29) Crowd: 213 Man of the Match: Ben Thomson After missing numerous chances in the first half, Frome Town were eventually grateful to Joe Gomes for a late, long range equaliser which led to a share of the points with Andover, and extended Frome’s unbeaten league run to seven games under Darren Perrin. With Frome’s Dafyyd Lloyd still not recovered from a muscle strain and reserve keeper Ed Quelch  still struggling with a long term back injury and Tom Pass recalled to Forest Green Rovers,  Darren Perrin started the match with  loan signing Gareth Evans as Frome’s third goalkeeper in the last three matches. Simeon Allison returned for a start in place of Luke Ballinger, was away on England Futsal squad duty, and Joe Gomes started a match for the first time in several weeks inplace of Iain Carr, who was on the subs bench. Andover were the first to show in the 4th minute as Frome pressure led to a breakdown, and a quickly taken long kick from Tasker caught the Frome defence napping, allowing Sadler to take the ball past Evans, but luckily his shot went into the side netting from an acute angle. Frome had an excellent chance to take the lead in the 7th minute as a good move involving Minnis and Salter led to Allison shooting from 15 yards, Tasker did well to save the first shot, but the ball rebounded straight to Allison and this time his second shot was just cleared off the line by a defender before being cleared to safety. As the game settled, Frome just about had the better of possession and territory , but Andover always looked dangerous on the break, and in the 15th minute, Andover’s Burch sidefooted a cross towards goal, with Evans just pushing the ball round the post. The resulting corner saw another sidefooted shot that this time hit the base of the post, and rebounded to an attacker who managed to shoot into the side netting. Frome were very lucky to survive this passage of play, but they carried on attacking, and in the 17th minute Lapham’s pass to Salter saw a neat back-heel that set Minnis free, but his right foot shot screamed across the face of the goal with nobody there to get a touch. Minnis was again involved three minutes later as he did very well to make ground on the right wing before cutting inside and unleashing a shot that was parried by Tasker, with Salter just failing to get to the rebound. Andover took the lead in the 29th minute as a left wing attack led to the ball being only partially cleared by the Frome defence, the ball falling to Sadler who hit an outstanding shot from 30 yards that initially stayed low and then rose unerringly into the top corner of the Frome net with Evans rooted to the spot. Strangely, this was almost a carbon copy of a goal that Cirencester had scored on Wednesday, with both being scored from almost the same point on the pitch and in the same way. Going behind seemed to stimulate Frome, and the remainder of the half saw a lot of attacks being mounted, mostly on the left wing where Thomson is really beginning to show how well he can cross a ball from an acute angle. He was unlucky in the 37th minute as he got on the end of an Allison cross, but volleyed into the side netting, and Minnis went close in the 39th minute as he just failed to beat Tasker to the ball, but at half time, Andover retained their 1-0 advantage. Hulbert replaced Allison at half time, and the second half started in a pattern that was to last the rest of the match, with Frome making the running, and Andover seemingly content to defend in depth, protect their lead and rely on breakaways to extend their lead. This made for a fairly dour half with Frome looking to unlock the Andover defence, but tending to play the ball into the air too often, enabling the tall Andover central defenders to make numerous headed clearances. Lapham had a chance in the 53rd minute as he was found in the Andover box by Minnis, but his shot was easily saved, and Andover had a long range effort pushed past the post in the 56th minute, and another shot in the 70th minute that was deflected for a corner. Millard replaced Lake in the 74th minute, giving Frome four strikers on the pitch, but it seemed that the Anodover defence were quite comfortable and dealing with everything that was being thrown at them. However, that all changed in the 82nd minute as a left wing Frome corner led to a bout of head tennis, that eventually led to the ball being headed out of the Andover area. As Cheeseman followed the ball out, he left it for Joe Gomes who produced what could be called either a moment of genius or a hopeful lob from a position at least 35 yards out. Whatever it was, it certainly worked, and the ball flew high and then dipped cleanly into the goal, with Tasker apparently not really seeing the flight of the ball. The home crowd and players celebrated the goal wildly, because Frome had never really looked like penetrating the Andover defence in the second half, and although the applied further pressure in the remaining time, in truth, neither side really looked like scoring and the final score of 1-1 was probably about right once Frome had failed to capitalise on their good first half chances. Barry White presented Ben Thomson with the Man of the Match award on behalf of himself and Clive Lewis who had jointly sponsored the match. Frome Town Players Gareth Evans Matt Peters Greg Lake Craig Fullam Jamie Cheeseman Joe Gomes Alex Lapham Sim Allison Mark Salter (c) Matt Minnis Ben Thomson Ricky Hulbert Iain Carr Mike Reaney Ashley Clarke Simon Millard  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 Andover  Players Dave Tasker Jason Sangha Adam Gatcum Tom Melledew Jono Richardson Bobby Swayne Mark Keogh Robbie Sadler Callum Nicholl Lee Burch Kyle Joryeff Joe Wright Phil Andrews Claudio Herbert Alex Gladwyn Josh Cottrell  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 Frome Town Management Darren Perrin Derek Graham Mike Clarke Shaun Baker Mike Kilgour   M A P K C Match Officials M Whaley D Goard A Quinn   R A A Zamaretto League Match Reports Abingdon (H) AFC Totton (A) Mangotsfield Utd (A) Thatcham Town (H) VTFC (A) North Leigh (H) Andover (A) Bracknell (A) AFC Hayes (H) Bridgwater (A) Cirencester (H) Andover (H) Bishops Cleeve (H) Windsor & Eton (A) Uxbridge (A) Yate Town (H) Hungerford Town (A) Cinderford Town (H) Gosport Borough (A) Bedfont Green (A) Paulton Rovers (H) AFC Hayes (A) Bracknell Town (H) Uxbridge (H) Cirencester (A) Taunton Town (A) Bridgwater (H) Windsor&Eton (H) Abingdon (A) AFC Totton (H) North Leigh (A) Thatcham Town (A) VTFC (H) Mangotsfield (H) Bedfont Green (H) Bishops Cleeve (A) Paulton Rovers (A) Cinderford (A) Hungerford Town (H) Taunton Town (H) Yate Town (A) Gosport Borough (H) FA Cup  Hamworthy (A) FA Trophy Chippenham (A) Red Insure Cup Clevedon Town (A) Som Prem Cup Weston s Mare (H) Bridgwater (H) Gavin Hares presents Alex Lapham with the Apricot Engraving Player of the Month Award for October Mascot Ben Griffiths with the Match Officials and Captains before the match Match Sponsor Barry White presents Ben Thomson with the MOM award on behalf of himself and Clive Lewis MoM Ben Thomson on the ball Joe Gomes celebrates his 35 yard 82nd minute equaliser