FROME Town continued their winning ways with a second successive 2-0 friendly win, this time against a Paulton Rovers side that contained no less than six former Frome players.
It took until the 36th minute for the first real chance of the match to arrive as the ball fell kindly for former Frome player Mike Perrott to volley from 10 yards out, only for Josh Ford to bravely block the ball allowing Perrott a second chance that thumped against the bottom of the post into the arms of Darren Chitty.
Frome were struggling to put together any real moves of attacking quality in the first half, but that changed just after the break and they took the lead in the 50th minute as a looping Matt Smith header was just tipped over the bar by Kyle Phillips in the Paulton goal.
Luke Ballinger took the corner and Smith was allowed to ghost in unmarked on the far post to score with a fine header and break the deadlock.
Ballinger went close with a shot several minutes later and shortly after, his run set up a chance for first Matt Lattibeaudiere and then Kurt Hammonds, but the ball finished just the wrong side of the post.
Ballinger made it 2-0 in the 61st minute as he cut in from the left and in a moment of great irony, played a one-two off the legs of the Paulton right back Dave Thompson (an ex-Frome player) and then struck the ball low into the corner of the net to give Phillips no chance.
As the heat took its toll, changes in players occurred and the match lost a little of its shape, but although Paulton had more of the territory, Chitty had little to do until the 85th minute when he made two excellent saves to deny the visitors.
A special round of applause came when returning favourite and Frome captain Jon Crowley took the field for Frome, hopefully leading to a full time return.
Ben Thompson also returned to the side and occasional flashes of brilliance on the left wing suggested that he still possesses the skills and pace to unsettle opponents.
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