Bridgwater Town 2 Frome Town 2

Frome Town and Bridgwater Town shared the spoils from an excellent match, full of passion and commitment, that was a credit to both clubs.

Frome's renowned travelling support swelled the crowd to 341 but it was the home fans who had the first reason to cheer when their team took a sixth-minute lead.

Keeper Daffyd Jones had saved with his legs to deny Pepperel but was beaten soon after when a shot cannoned off a Frome defender and found Duharty, who shot cleanly into the corner of the net.

But Frome – who were able to reunite Jamie Cheeseman and Craig Fullam at centre-half and give striker Mark Salter a first start since August – settled to their task and the match became very even, with both sides looking dangerous.

The visitors equalised in the 20th minute with a superb individual goal from Luke Ballinger. He picked the ball up in the centre circle and ran at the Bridgwater defence before clipping a right-foot shot over Hutchings who, despite getting a hand on the ball, could not stop it finding the net.

And they went ahead seven minutes later following a foul on Greg Lake on the edge of the box. After a pause for treatment, Alex Lapham stepped up to smash a superb free-kick into the bottom corner.

Lake had to leave the pitch due to his head injury and was replaced by Michael Reaney, who played at centre back for the rest of the match with Fullam moving to left back.

But that did not knock Frome out of their stride and they had the ball in the back of the net again in the 37th minute when Ballinger's shot was spilled by Hutchings. Salter poked home the loose ball but was adjudged to be offside.

Bridgwater piled forward in the closing minutes of the half but the Frome defence held out to leave the travelling faithful happy and looking forward to the second half with great anticipation.

It began in much the same way as the first had ended, with Bridgwater attacking at pace and Jones keeping them at bay.

Indeed, it was Frome who almost extended their lead in the 56th minute when Ben Thomson made a great run down the left before teeing up Matt Minnis, who was only denied by a fine save.

The striker then set up a good chance two minutes later when he charged down a clearance to give Ballinger a clear diagonal run into the Bridgwater penalty area but his right-foot shot flew high and wide.

Those misses were to prove costly as Bridgwater drew level on the hour mark, the tall Pepperel's downward header from a corner giving keeper Jones no chance.

In the 65th minute, Salter collected an elbow on the side of his head and, strangely, a yellow card all in the course of one challenge. From the resulting free-kick, Bridgwater missed a golden opportunity to score as an attacker blazed the ball across the face of the Frome goal from six yards out.

Matt Peters then performed miracles at the far post to deny the hosts again a minute later as Bridgwater began to really turn the screw but Frome continued to threaten on the break and Minnis brought another save from Hutchings at the near post.

With Ricky Hulbert replacing Salter, the match continued at a frenetic pace but chances were scarce until the 90th minute when Bridgwater's Brett Trowbridge blazed the ball high and wide from 10 yards after being set up perfectly with a low cross.

A minute later, Jones produced more heroics as the ball ricocheted backwards and forwards in the Frome penalty area, despite being hindered by a Bridgwater attacker lying injured on the six-yard line.

After four minutes of injury time, the referee blew the final whistle with both sets of fans applauding the players off after an intriguing and thoroughly entertaining match.

With numerous candidates for Frome's man of the match award, it was decided to refer the decision to Darren Perrin and the manager nominated Iain Carr after a solid performance in midfield – it was definitely his best game for the club.

Frome Town face two home matches over the next week with Andover and Weston-super-Mare the opponents at the AlderSmith Stadium.

The Robins host Andover in the Zamaretto League on Saturday, with the two sides having drawn 2-2 last month when the Robins picked up their first away point of the season thanks to goals from Ricky Hulbert and Simeon Allison.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday Frome start their defence of the Somerset Premier Cup with a home tie against Blue Square South side Weston-super-Mare, managed by former Bristol Rovers and Swindon Town player Andy Gurney (7.45pm).

Next Thursday there will be another chance for supporters to pose questions to the manager with a fans' forum with Darren Perrin at 8pm.

The forum will be held in the board room in the clubhouse and there will also be a player present to answer supporters' questions.

The club will be running coaches to three upcoming away matches at Bedfont Green (November 14), Windsor & Eton (November 21) and Uxbridge (November 24).

Anyone wishing to travel should contact Ian Pearce on 07811 511222 to book a seat at £10 per person.