At the end of a busy week, Frome produced a very jaded performance in a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Sherborne Town.

As at Melksham earlier in the week, Andy Crabtree decided to start the match with Sim Allison playing up front with Mark Salter, and re-arranged the defence accordingly, playing Missiato at left back Harvey at right back and slotting Bryant alongside Cheeseman in the centre of defence.

Sherborne must be one of the most picturesque grounds in the league, but the drying wind had helped to create a bumpy pitch, and the bobbling ball caused problems for both sides throughout the match.

Frome started the match the brighter of the two sides, and for long periods were camped in the Sherborne half and certainly had more possession, but there seemed to be a lack of movement, pace and control, and it took until the 25th minute for the first attempt on goal as a 25 yard Missiato right foot shot cleared the bar by a couple of feet.

Richard Fey was a little lucky in the 32nd minute as he juggled several times with the ball before eventually holding it and Frome were lucky to survive in the 37th minute as a long Sherborne clearance allowed Sherborne's Parkinson through on goal, but his hurried shot went well wide of the far post as Fey advanced on him.

At half time, after the a pretty barren first half, the crowd hoped for a bit more quality and more attempts on goal in the second half, and Frome certainly seemed to start the second half with more urgency, but the control and passing was still lacking the necessary quality.

Sherborne took the lead in the 55th minute as a rare attack led to a through ball to Phil Ormrod who found himself unmarked 15 yards out from the Frome goal, and his clinical right foot shot screamed into the net giving Fey no chance.

Normally, when the opposition score, Frome are stung into action , but in this match, it seemed as if more effort and urgency just result in less quality, and the moves continually broke down allowing Sherborne to counter attack into the space left at the back.

This happened in the 57th, 60th and 62nd minutes, but in all cases poor finishing caused no problems, but Fey had to save well with his legs in the 70th minute as a Frome free kick led to a rapid Sherborne counter attack.

Andy Crabtree responded by bringing on Rawlins, Burke and Fussell to replace Caslake, Duggan and Kennedy, but in truth, very little changed, and even the late promotion of Cheeseman into the front line failed to create any impact on the Sherborne defence.

Frome's best chance to equalise came in the 93rd minute as a Fussell corner was met at the far post by Salter, but the header only hit the side netting, meaning that this match was probably unique this season due to the fact that in the entire 90 minutes, Frome never once troubled the Sherbone goalkeeper with a meaningful attempt on goal.

Frome will have to be much better than this on Tuesday to stand a chance at Brislington,

"We just looked a tired side," said Crabtree.

"We didn't have a single shot on target for the entire game. Just like on Wednesday I thought we did ok for 70 minutes but then fatigue set in.

"We never really got going on a difficult pitch but it was the same for them and they they deserved the win.

"We play again on Tuesday so there is no let up for us although there is no excuse for not even having a shot on target."

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