Meakes on target as Frome earn vital win
in goal to give the Robins an important lead.
The advantage was then nearly doubled just three minutes later when Meakes won a 50/50 battle against the defender and, through on goal, he fired a left-footed shot which was tipped just past the post by Clayton.
The away side responded well to the pressure. They dragged a shot just wide of Kyle Phillips’ righthand post in the 33rd minute after a cut back. Pierce Mitchell then intervened two minutes later with a big tackle to deny a clear shot on goal.
Just before half-time, a reckless challenge from Bishops Cleeve’s Ben McLean on Kane Simpson was met with a red card from referee Andrew Sheppard, giving Frome a huge advantage going in to the second half.
However the second half did not quite pan out as most would have expected. Frome struggled to make the ball stick for large parts, and despite being a man down, Bishops Cleeve dominated the ball for large parts, albeit without creating a whole lot.
Despite a solid first half from Clayton he nearly got himself into trouble at the start of the half when he sliced an attempted clearance behind him, towards the goal, he managed to spare his blushes however, recovering well and clearing the ball.
There wasn’t much action from that point until the 75th minute however. Frome struggled to gain control of the ball in midfield and upfront, even with a man advantage, but the back three of Sam Teale, Warren Maidment and Mitchell, as well as Matt Wood when he came on, all put in superb shifts, meaning the visitors were unable to create many chanes of note despite all of their possession.
A big chance then fell to Zak Drew in the 76th minute. He picked the ball up just past the half-way line and took off, beating two or three defenders, he found and opening but could only send his effort straight at the keeper from a narrow angle.
Frome then brought on Reece Rusher who has been out of action for six months. He provided some much-needed energy down the right hand-side, assisting the hardworking Meakes with the press.
Rusher nearly got a goal on his return, too. Drew ran through the middle but was taken out by Stephen Davies; played continued as the ball fell to fellow substitute Will Taylor, who clipped a cross towards the back post where Rusher couldn’t quite keep his header down. After a nervy last few minutes, fantastic game management saw Frome through to the final whistle, earning them a massive three points.
Up next for Frome are play-off contenders Larkhall who have been in incredible form recently, so Frome are urging as many of their fans as possible to attend the game.