EVO-STIK LEAGUE SOUTHERN PREMIER DIVISION: Frome Town 0 Bedford Town 0

With a little more luck in front of goal, Frome could well have taken all three points in this match, but the draw was enough to ensure Southern Premier status for next season.

Frome were first out of the blocks at the start of the match with Luke Ballinger bringing a good save from Jordan Rigby in the third minute.

But then the match settled into a pattern with Bedford having a lot of possession in the centre of the pitch, but never creating any movement that threatened the Frome goal and Darren Chitty was a virtual spectator for most of the match.

Frome always looked dangerous on the counter, but the Bedford defence had a significant height advantage and tended to nullify most of the attacks before the final shot could be made.

Ballinger had the chance to lob the keeper from distance in the 33rd minute, but the accuaracy was missing, and then Dean Evans and Ballinger combined well two minutes later to set up a shooting chance for Matt Smith Rigby did very well to palm away for a corner.

As the half came to an end, Frome were creating more and more chances, but the final finish was never quite good enough and the score remained goalless.

The second half saw Bedford seemingly content with the point and offering very little in the way of enterprise up front.

Frome, on the other hand, were looking for the win and a succession of free kicks, corner and long throws all led to shooting chances, but few troubled Rigby and most flew high or wide.

A Chris Allen free kick flew over the bar in the 62nd minute and Dean Evans shot past the post in the 68th after a clever Sam Alison stepover.

Smith hit a long-range screamer past the post in the 77th and Ballinger had a shot charged down in the 80th after a long Mike Reaney throw.

As the end of the match approached, Frome carried on looking for the winner.

Evans was a whisker away from getting on the end of an Allison header, Ballinger volleyed over the bar in the 84th minute, and Evans was just foiled in the 89th as he got on the end of a low Ballinger right wing cross.

Despite all these chances, it took until the 92nd minute for Rigby to be forced to make a save as he did well to stop a low Ballinger drive, and the crowd knew that it just wasn’t going to happen as a header from Josh Brigham hit the top corner of the goal frame seconds before the final whistle blew.

Luke Ballinger was awarded the man of the match award by representatives of TBT Ltd who had sponsored the match.

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