Saturday December 15th 2012 Arlesey Away Saturday 15th December 2012 Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Arlesey Town 0 Frome Town 1 Frome Scorers: Gilroy(52) Arlesey Scorers: None Crowd: 111 Star Man: Darren Chitty Entertainment Value: 3 Only a “man of the match” performance from Frome’s goalkeeper Darren Chitty kept the score sheet blank at half time, but a better second half saw them grab the only goal of the match through Dave Gilroy and the long journey home felt much better carrying the priceless three points.  With the Arlesey ground staff having to work hard to get the game on after heavy rain the day before, the match started with Arlesey much quicker out of the blocks. The 8th minute saw a deep cross from the right headed back across the Frome goal by Chris Dillon and and Chitty brought off the first of his saves as he denied Aston Goss at the far post. Two minutes later,  a Frome goal kick a produced a solid clearing header from Ryan Frater back toward the Frome goal allowed Drew Roberts  a clean run on goal with just Chitty in front of him but the keeper just won the race and saved superbly at  his feet. Another good free kick from Cook found Chris Dillon and Chitty competing for the ball and Chitty did well to claim it under his bar. A good ball through by Ben Farrell fed Goss through and he hit a good shot from the edge of the box that brought another good save from Chitty. Ben Wood received a booking as he kicked the ball away following a Frome throw in, but Arlesey kept pushing, and a poor back pass by Matt Smith was quickly picked up by Roberts who put in a low hard cross toward Dillon by Chitty was again alive to the situation and  collected the  ball low down. The 33rd minute saw Arlesey’s Chris Dillon set  James Marsh free, but his shot was again well saved again by Chitty, conceding a corner. From this Shane Blackett got in great volley that brought yet another great save from Chitty. The 36th minute saw Frome’s first real attck as Darren Jefferies  picked up the ball in midfield and fed it out to Mike Perrott  whose hard, driven cross just  skimmed past the far post. Arlesey pushed back with Marsh attacking down the right and he fed in Farrell who hit a low shot which was again well stopped by Chitty. As time ran toward half time a free kick in by Roberts from Marsh getting fouled was headed clear by Smith and a series of corners from a Dillon header was concluded by Hatch heading over the bar. As the players came off for half time wondering how this was still 0-0, a solid looking black cloud was gathering ominously on the horizon which was a portent of things to come. The second half started with Frome in a totally different mood attacking from the start and forcing Arlesey onto the back foot. Ben Wood made a good turn and shot from 35 yards that whistled just over the bar, and Perrott hit a long range shot that again went just over the bar. As the rain started to fall in sheets making the already difficult surface even more slippery, a ball in from Perrott on the right found Wood at the far post; he hit in a shot that Nathan Abbey could only parry from close range and the ball dropped to Dave Gilroy who couldn’t miss prodding the ball over the line from close range to give the visitors the break through. In conditions resembling a monsoon, the already muddy pitch started to cut up even more, making flowing football impossible and mistakes more likely, but this tended to favour Frome as they defended their lead in depth and looked to set up occasional breaks from midfield. Ben Wood stung Abbey’s hands with a shot from the edge of the area in the 67th minute and Gilroy set up Dean Evans for a shot that cleared the bar in the 79th, but the Arlesey threat was being muted by dogged determination and the conditions, and Frome held on for the all important three points and a great confidence boost. The “H&B Tyres Man of the Match” award was awarded to Darren Chitty for his string of amazing saves that contributed greatly to the eventual outcome of this match.   Frome Town Arlesey Officials M Whaley A Reed I Igniat Match Photos Photos of this match taken by our expert photographer Chas Hadfield can be viewed by clicking on this rectangle Match Sponsor xxxxxx Ball Sponsor xxxxx Nathan Abbey Danny Gordon Josh Cook Shane Blackett Ryan Frater © Ben Farrell Chris Marsh James Hatch Chris Dillon Drew Roberts Aston Goss. David Galbraith Jeanmal Prosper Christian Tavernier Zema Abbey Nick Bussey.