Frome Town  1 Thatcham Town 3 Peters (56 pen) Taplin (29), Johnson (47), Keen (82) Crowd: 156 Man of the Match: Greg Lake Frome Town's steep learning curve in the Southern League continued as they were comprehensively outplayed by a good Thatcham Town side who were well worth their 3-1 victory. Andy Crabtree's search for a striker to cover Mark Salter's injury period resulted in the signing of ex Weymouth and Team Bath player Tom Piotrowski, and the young striker was thrown straight into the side for tonight's match playing in the No. 9 shirt alongside Sim Allison. The first quarter hour of the match was uneventful, with only a couple of long range efforts from Lapham worthy of note, but in the 15th minute, Thatcham's Johnson beat the offside flag and advanced quickly on goal, only to see Payne do well save the attempted lob into the goal. Thatcham now started to look dangerous, and 3 minutes later good wing play led to a ball across the Frome goal that the unmarked Keen completely missed, with the ball then spinning up off of Peters, and eventually coming down on the goal line, where Payne was fouled by an over eager forward. Thatcham took the lead in the 29th minute as a left wing free kick was curled across the Frome area allowing a forward to get his head to the ball. The ball appeared to be going out past the far post, but Johnson did well to flick the ball back into the box, allowing left back Taplin to score with a shot that hit the ground and bounced high into the roof of the net. Thatcham again went close in the 31st minute as Johnson pulled the ball back from the dead ball line for Keen to glance a header just wide, and Keen again went close in the last minute of the half as Cheeseman and Fullam collided, allowing him a clear run on goal, with Payne making a good save to deny Thatcham a larger half time lead. Thatcham extended their lead two minutes after the re-start, when Johnson show his pace and class to latch onto a through ball, beat Cheeseman and round Payne before sliding the ball into the net to make it 2-0 and give Frome a mountain to climb. After a lacklustre first half, Frome were stung into action and started mounting attacks, but Thatcham always looked capable at the back and dangerous up front. However, in the 56th minute Piotrowski swivelled on the edge of the area and produced a left foot shot that hit the arm of a defender, and to the surprise of most of the crowd, the referee immediately pointed to the spot, and captain Matt Peters scored with ease with a very well directed penalty. The goal really seemed to wake Frome up and a series of attacks produced a golden opportunity in the 63rd minute as Piotrowski produced a sweet through ball that gave Hunt a shooting chance, but the ball flew wide of the far post and the chance went begging. Thatcham came straight back, and only a great Payne tip over the bar prevented them from extending their lead from a corner in the 64th minute. The game flowed from end to end for a while, but then Thatcham killed the game off in the 82nd minute as a Frome goal kick was won easily in midfield, and a killer through ball was played to Keen that allowed him to outpace Cowler and slot the ball home with a very cool finish. From that moment on, the game petered out and in the end, Thatcham were well worth their win and the three points. Frome now need to regroup for their visit to Hamworthy on Saturday in the FA Cup preliminary round. Greg Lake was presented with the Man of the Match award by Frome Scaffolding Ltd, who sponsored the match. Frome Town Players Josh Payne Matt Cowler Greg Lake Craig Fullam Jamie Cheeseman Matt Peters (c) (89) Alex Lapham Sean Percival (58) Tom Piotrowski Sim Allison Gavin Eyre (58) Ian Kennedy Dan Harvey Steve Hunt (58) Ashley Clarke (89) Joe Gomes (58)  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 Thatcham Players Paul Struddley Jamie Leacock Paul Taplin Dean Flockton Sam Rea Olly Oatley Dean Stolo Dave Askel Danny Keen Jamie Johnson Mario Nurse Sam Tucker Aaron Stevens Josh Digby Ben McGreedy Matt Bowler  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 Frome Town Management Andy Crabtree Derek Graham Mike Clarke Shaun Baker   M A P K Match Officials M Whalley A Quinn D Harding   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) Cheese rises high Mascot Isobel Stevens Beau Morgan presents Greg Lake on behalf of Frome Scaffolding Ltd