Saturday July 16th 2011 Forest Green Rovers Home Saturday 16th July Pre-Season Friendly Frome Town 3 Forest Green Rovers 1 Frome Scorers: Ballinger (50), Tooze (86), Miller 87 FGR Scorers: Styce (16) Crowd: 226 Two late goals for Frome sealed a 3-1 win for Frome Town, as this friendly provided good entertainment on a superb pitch in front of an excellent crowd. With both sides playing full strength teams for the first half, the match provided an excellent opportunity for Frome to gauge themselves against a team from two divisions higher, and the match started with a flurry of excitement as in the 2nd minute, Chitty saved low for Frome and then started a move that saw White get to the dead ball line and cut the ball back into an empty six yard box. As the match settled, Forest Green began to show their class, hitting the outside of the Frome post in the 9th minute and the top of the crossbar one minute later, and they took the lead in the 16th minute as a left wing corner was only partially cleared, allowing Styce to drill the ball home from close range. Forest Green's close passing game denied Frome any clear cut chances for long periods, and Styce again went close in the 26th minute with a 30 yard shot that only just cleared the far post, but apart from that, there were few goalmouth incidences of note at either end, and the half finished with just the single goal separating the sides. At half time, Forest Green replaced their entire team, and they almost increased their lead in the 47th minute, but were denied by another excellent low save from Chitty, but then Frome equalised 2 minutes later as Ballinger cut into the box from the right wing and drilled a right foot shot low into the far of the net. With Frome now having more of the game, Darren Perrin replaced seven players in the 60th minute, and Frome moved into a period where they were generally on the front foot and spending more time in the Forest Green half, but were then grateful to goalkeeper Darren Chitty in the 83rd minute as he brought off a good low double save followed by a tip over the bar one minute later. As it seemed as if the match was destined for a draw, Frome's new signing Kyle Tooze latched onto the ball in the penalty area and produced a left foot half volley that zipped passed the visitors keeper and buried itself in the top far corner of the net. One minute later and the game was fully wrapped up as another new signing Kris Miller produced almost a carbon copy goal and hit another left foot half volley that again gave the keeper no chance. So, the match provided a lot of good things for both clubs. The first half showed that Forest Green's first choice squad are obviously a force to be reckoned with, Frome showed that they could compete with a team from a higher level, and the second half showed that Frome have young players of pace and flair that are knocking on the door of the established side which can only bode well for the coming season. Frome Town Forest Green