Sholing 0-1 Frome Town

Scorers :  Chris Peck 17

Date: Saturday 12 February 2022, 3pm – Southern League South Division 1

Venue:  Mackoy Stadium

Sholing: Ryan Gosney, Owen Roundell, Marv McLean, Jack Mann (Stu Green 51), Dan Miller, Rob Nicholls, Conor Whiteley (Jake Cope 75), Byron Mason ©, Dan Mason, Sami Makhloufi, Brad Targett.  Unused subs : Ryan Cluett, Josh Batt, Luke Deacon

Yellow Card: 

Frome Town: James Carey, Jack Witcombe, Joseph O'Loughlin, Sam Teale ©, Michael Baker, Chris Peck, Jonathan Davies (James Ollis 78), George Rigg, Kane Simpson, Alex Monks (Matt Smith 62), Warren Maidment.  Unused subs : Callum Evans, Rex Mannings, Alex Hallett

Yellow Card : Jack Witcombe, George Rigg, Warren Maidment
Red Card : Jack Witcombe

Referee:  Rob Ablitt   Assistants: Andy Dunn & James Colley

Attendance: 205

Boatmen slipped to a narrow defeat to fellow promotion hopefuls, Frome Town. 

Team News :  Dave Diaper went with 3 at the back, with Marv & Brad pushed on.  Stu Green returned from illness for a place on the bench.

On a sunny, but windy day, Frome had the early pressure, forcing a succession of corners, but nothing to threaten Gosney as Sholing found it difficult to keep possession going forward.  The visitors took the lead on 17 mins when a freekick out on the right was played into the box and fell for Chris Peck to hammer into the roof of the net from 6 yards.

Sholing's best effort of the half came on 25 mins when good work by Sami Makhloufi down by the corner flag saw him tee up Rob Nicholls for a shot towards the near post which the Frome keeper saved at the 2nd attempt.  Conor Whiteley put a couple of freekicks over the bar as both defences stayed on top for the remainder of the half with little goalmouth action taking place.   HT 0-1

Stu Green came on 6 minutes into the second half to inject some pace & movement into the Boatmen's attacks.  Brad Targett did well to chop into space and put over a ball between the keeper and his backline, but no Sholing player gambled to fill the 6 yard box.   Boatmen were playing better in this half as Frome put all their efforts into defending their lead.  Sholing had the ball in the net when a freekick was nodded on by Byron for Greener to poke past the keeper, but the linesman's flag was up for a debatable offside decision. 

Frome almost contributed to their own downfall when an inswinging Sholing corner was nodded on by a Frome player towards the far post, but one of his teammates was on hand to head away near the line.  Boatmen's best chance of the game came in the 83 minute when Dan Mason was fed into the right side of the box, he went for power, but could only find the sidenetting.

Frome were being allowed by the officials to waste time and I'm sure any team would have done the same if the ref doesn't clamp down on it.  The official enraged the visitors when he sent off Jack Witcome for a 2nd yellow as the game ticked into the 90th minute.  5 minutes was shown as added time, but only 4 played to bring a frustrating game for Sholing to an end.   This was a blow to our promotion hopes, but we still have games in hand on the teams above.  FT 0-1

Next Game : Paulton Rovers v Sholing - Southern League - Saturday 19 February 3pm

Photos courtesy of EspieJaz (swipe to view pics)