Friday August  10th  2012 Paulton Rovers Away Friday 10th August 2012 Friendly Paulton Rovers 6 Frome Town 1 Frome Scorers: Bennett (25) Paulton Scorers: Miller (21), Billing (22,44), McCootin (29), Evans (32 og), Stone (65p) As the scoreline suggests, Frome were soundly thrashed by Paulton Rovers, and with Paulton carving through the Frome midfield and defence with ease every time they attacked, the half time score of 5-1 threatened an avalanche of goals in the second half. Frome had the first chance in the 6th minute as a right wing cross from Lewis Powell found the head of Nat Auckland, bringing a good save from Kyle Phillips, but then Paulton immediately broke and as Ryan Bennett missed an interception, Ed Quelch did well to save from Nick McCootin as he advanced on an open goal. A Jamie Lyons corner found the head of Tom Evans in the 14th minute, but Phillips palmed the ball up into the air and Evans very nearly forced the ball over the line as it came down again, but then Paulton’s purple patch started and good work from McCootin saw him pull the ball back from the deadball line for Kris Miller to score with ease. Frome’s midfield now seemed to disappear from the game, leaving the defence horribly exposed, and a superb through ball saw McCootin outpace Matt Cowler and pull the ball back for James Billing to score with ease in the 22nd minute. Ryan Bennett reduced the arrears in the 25th as his head  glanced another excellent in- swinging Jamie Lyons corner into the far top corner of the goal, but Paulton regained their two goal cushion in the 29th as the impressive McCootin calmly rounded Cowler and slid the ball into the net. Three minutes later it was 4-1 as Ben Lacey made the most of acres of space to get to the dead ball line, as he pulled it back from a tight angle, Tom Evans only succeeded in knocking the ball into his own net as he attempted to clear off the line. On the stroke of half time, the rout was pretty much complete as Billing found himself in acres of space just inside the Frome penalty area, and once again, good work by McCootin saw him receive the ball and shoot low into the far corner as nobody challenged him. Thankfully,  second half substitutions by Frome tended to plug the gaps in midfield, and Paulton only added to their score in the 65th minute as a foul by Evans led to a penalty that was scored by Dave Stone (according to the Paulton announcer ). So, the scoreline was embarrassing, but there were some real positives that came. out of the match. With Dean Evans, Alex Lapham and Matt Smith all watching from the sidelines, the main driving force of the side was absent, and it really showed as Frome’s midfield were absent for long periods of the match. There is no question that those three will start the first league match and the midfield will once again become a combative place to be. Nat Auckland and Lewis Powell both looked good up front, with intelligent movement and physical presence and Jamie Lyons delivers a top quality corner, especially from the right hand side were it curls in wickedly. Don’t write Frome off just yet .... this squad has the look of a potentially very good side this season once the dust has settled and the side has gelled..      Frome Town Paulton Rovers Kyle Phillips Stuart Tovey Marcus Mapstone Dan Cleverley Scott Brice Josh Jeffries Craig Loxton Lee Collier Nick McCootin Ben Lacey Kris Miller Sean Seaville James Vincent Aaron Cornwell Ben Osman Dan Cooke Officials Rick Hulme Kevin Williams Martin Veater Match Photos Photos of this match taken by our expert photographer Chas Hadfield can be viewed by clicking on this rectangle Match Sponsor xxxx Mascot xxxxx