Saturday July 30th 2011 Bristol City XI Home Saturday 30th July 2011 Pre Season Friendly Frome Town 2 Bristol City XI 3 Frome Scorers: Bennison (25), Brigham (89) Bristol City Scorers: Burns (77), Holloway (78), Clarkson (91) Crowd: 331 Frome Town shuffled their entire squad to produce two teams, one for each half, and in the end were unlucky to lose to a last minute winner from a strong Bristol City side On a warm day, excellent pitch and in front of a good crowd of 331, the match kicked off with a snapshot from Hulbert sailing past the post in the first minute, but then the match settled down with Bristol City slowing the match down, keeping possession and looking for  structured attacking moves. The first of these came in the 13th minute as Clarkson got through on goal and brought a good sharp save from Chitty in the home goal. This led to a period of play where Frome were never overwhelmed, but increasing pressure from Bristol City led to a last ditch challenge from Cheeseman in the 16th minute and Chitty again did well to save from Holloway in the 21st minute. Slightly agains the run of play, after a stoppage due to a Ballinger injury in the 25th minute, the match resumed with a Frome free kick, Cheeseman got up well and flicked the ball on to Bennison who produced an excellent left foot volley from 15 yards that gave Hall no chance and Frome the lead. Bennison almost increased the lead a few minutes later as a defensive muddle led to a shooting chance, but this time Hall did well to save, and with Bristol City moving up a gear in response to going behind, Frome did well to restrict their chances, and the half finished with the score 1-0 to Frome. With a complete change of team at half time, Frome looked very good in the opening few minutes, and Darren White did well in the 51st minute to pull the ball back to Thomson who almost poked the ball past Hall, but the shot span away for a corner. The 66th minute saw a Brigham free kick on the edge of the box take a deflection and Tooze just failed to find a gap in the defenders on the line. The next few minutes saw Frome hit a purple patch and Tooze, White and Plummer were really starting to ask questions of the Bristol defence, but again against the run of play, Bristol equalised in the 77th minute as a move across the edge of the Frome box led to Burns stroking the ball home from 15 yards with a clinical finish. Frome fell for the sucker punch a minute later as a left wing free kick was met by the unmarked Holloway who head cleanly home from close range, leading to a period where Bristol seemed content to keep the ball and invite Frome to come and get it. Frome equalised in the 89th minute as a Thomson free kick was deflected for a left wing corner, Lapham floated the ball in and Brigham ghosted unmarked into the 6 yard box to half volley the ball home with ease. With the score at 2-2, it seemed that honours would remain even, but a defensive error allowed Clarkson to win the game in the last minute as he coolly slotted the ball home from an acute position close to the dead ball line. All in all, a good game. Bristol City showed their class when they had the ball, but Frome always battled for the ball and never let them settle, and the fact that Frome could compete for ninety minutes with two completely different teams is sure sign of the strength in depth in the squad. Frome Town Bristol City XI