Evostik Southern League Premier Division
SpecialEffect Stadium
Saturday 10th December 2016

A goalless stalemate was unfortunately the correct result from a dour contest played out on a miserably wet afternoon in Frome, but nevertheless it represents another point on the board for Leamington in their quest for promotion.

It was a second successive no score draw down in Somerset against a Robins side who are always tough to play against on their own patch. They packed their defence and restricted space as Brakes attempted to find a way through, but while they threatened in flashes during the first half they only threatened Tony Breeden’s goal on a couple of occasions, while in turn Leamington were unable to find a way through to Kyle Phillips in the home side’s goal.

Neither side did enough to merit all three points, with goalscoring chances at a premium, while the conditions were not exactly conducive to flowing football, the greasy surface catching the players out more than once over the course of the afternoon.

There were a couple of wayward chances early on for the hosts before Ollie Knight forced Breeden into a good save down at his near post. Mike Bryant later looked to be in on goal as the ball deflected through to him, only to snatch at his shot and fire well wide.

Frome were the busier side but Leamington began to come more into the game midway through the first half, and Ahmed Obeng hit the post after Courtney Baker-Richardson and debutant Richard Gregory flicked the ball on to him on the right inside the penalty area.

In the second half Clayton Green got a touch on Rob Thompson-Brown’s shot from outside the box, deflecting the ball through to his goalkeeper Kyle Phillips.

Frome saw a shot lifted onto the roof of the net as they got a rare sight of goal after half time, while Green put another solid block in as Obeng shaped to shoot.

Gregory endured what was probably a frustrating first appearance in a Brakes shirt, with little to feed off, but he worked hard and saw a half chance fly wide from Baker-Richardson’s cross as Leamington applied some late pressure.

Callum Gittings kept his footing well, darting between two challenges to try and slip a pass through for Baker-Richardson, who was thwarted by Phillips as well as the offside flag, which had seen plenty of action during the 90 minutes.

A point at a Frome side who seem to improve every season is by no means a bad result, and Leamington now have a rare free midweek to prepare for the trip to Kings Langley next Saturday.
Paul Holleran was happy to take the positives from a game which saw his side bereft of key players, saying ‘Having some effective players missing today was one thing. If those players had been available I would probably not have made Courtney (Baker-Richardson) and Joe (Magunda) travel, as they have both been suffering from illness, so credit to them that they’ve not only travelled but put in good performances too.

‘To go to a place which is tough to go at the best of times, it wasn’t a pretty spectacle, it was difficult to play through the pitch as it was, the players were struggling with their footing, and I just thought we showed great desire and I thought that defensively throughout the afternoon we were very solid.’

‘To put it all in perspective it’s a good point. We’ve had two tough away games, Dunstable and Frome and come away with two clean sheets and four points. It would have been nice to get that bit of quality, I thought it was coming second half. We got Callum and Robbie on the ball a little bit more and we just needed that right decision at the right time, it didn’t quite happen. You look at the players we were missing today and we’ll get stronger. You might look back at points like this one later in the season and realise they were good ones. The clear midweek has come at the perfect time for us.’

‘I’d like to especially like to thank the fans that travelled down today just before Christmas on a horrendous day, they were really vocal and to say that we appreciate their support is an understatement.’

Attendance: 219

Frome Town: Kyle Phillips, Kriss Miller, Sam Teale ©, Connor Roberts, Marcus Mapstone, Clayton Green, Jon Davies, George Miller, Jake Jackson, Mickey Bryant (15 Dean Griffiths, 75), Ollie Knight.

Subs not used: 12 Chris Gregan, 14 Nathan Summers, 17 Ben Cleverley, 18 Josh Jefferies.

Leamington: Tony Breeden ©, Richard Taundry, Connor Gudger, Joe Magunda, Dan Preston, James Mace, Courtney Baker-Richardson, Callum Gittings, Richard Gregory (Ben George, 78), Rob Thompson-Brown, Ahmed Obeng.

Subs not used: 12 Tom James, 15 Nathan Olukanmi, 16 Ryan Quinn, 17 Martyn Naylor.

Referee: Mr Dale Wooton

Assistant Referees: Mr Spencer McNaught & Mr Thomas Staten.

Brakes Man of the Match: Courtney Baker-Richardson.