Thursday 22 July 2004 - Badgers Hill - kick off 7.45pm Friendly

With this experimental side and the fact that it was the home side’s first pre-season outing it was no surprise that the opening exchanges were scrappy in the extreme. What little flow there was was not helped by the uneven surface as players on both sides struggled to control the ball at times. It took nearly half an hour for the first chance to fall to either side and it should have seen Frome go ahead. A long ball was flicked onto an unmarked Mark Salter but the former City striker showed the sort of finishing that saw his Twerton Park career end after just 13 games and 2 goals by blasting a shot straight at Justin Shuttlewood. Another former City player, goalkeeper Ray Johnston, then spilled a cross under pressure from Grant Monelle but the ball did not drop kindly for a teammate. City’s most likely route to a goal seemed to be from a set-piece and Sam Bailey headed a free-kick narrowly over on 35 minutes. Within minutes the Robins carved through City’s backline for a second time only for Griffiths to fire a shot over the bar. Peter’s also failed to test Shuttlewood from a good position before the interval. The hosts had definitely had the better of the first half but nearly fell behind right on the stroke of half-time. Dean Stevens found room 20-yards out and his well-struck shot was pushed around the post at full-stretch by Johnston.

With the bench occupied by five sixteen year-olds it was no surprise that despite their poor performance Owers kept with his starting XI into the second half. However, within two minutes of the restart Frome grabbed the lead. Salter had time and space on the edge of the City box to find Peters. His shot was mis-hit but fell perfectly to Jarman who converted from eight yards out. Salter should have doubled this advantage ten minutes later, after Shuttlewood allowed a Peters shot to get away from him, but once again reminded City fans of his goalscoring abilities. City were beginning to see more possession but too often the final pass or cross went astray. Griffiths then headed a Peters corner wide with Shuttlewood in no-mans land. City introduced Brigham and Allison with about 15 minutes remaining and the closing stages were almost all City. Stevens saw his shot comfortably saved by Johnston and then Hulbert blasted a shot over the bar from just six yards out. City also won a succession of corners but couldn’t turn this dominance into their first pre-season goal. In fact, they were almost caught on the break with two minutes left when Collier’s hopeful shot almost took Shuttlewood by surprise. The final whistle was greeted by several Frome players like they had won the league rather than a pre-season friendly but it left City heading to Clevedon on Saturday still looking to kick-start their summer campaign.