Bristol Manor Farm dressing room ‘bouncing’ after Frome Town win seals playoff final against Winchester City

Bristol Manor Farm have progressed through to the playoff final of the Southern League Division One South - the eighth tier of English football - after seeing out a 3 - 1 victory over Frome Town last night (April 26).

Despite the Portawaymen going 1 - 0 down just after the 30-minute mark at Frome, forward Kye Simpson was able to match his opponents by scoring minutes later, putting his side at 1-1 going into half-time.

Bristol Manor Farm forward Owen Howe doubled his side’s score in the early stages of the second half, before he wrapped up the game in the 70th minute after completing his brace. Owen Howe has now scored 27 goals this season for The Farm.

The Portawaymen will now face Winchester City in the playoff final on Monday at the Denplan City ground, after they thumped Cirencester Town 4 - 1 in their semi final away from home.

Bristol Manor Farm manager Lee Lashenko gave an interview following his side’s victory. He said: “It’s amazing, the dressing room is bouncing and you can see what it means to the club, everybody is really happy.

“Tonight we can soak it up, there’s a few days now that they can have a bit of a breather and rebuild themselves, we’ll have them in on the weekend and ready to go on Monday so hopefully we can complete the job.

“On Monday we know it’s going to be a tough task, I think that’s what this season has shown, the league has got a lot of depth to it and a lot of good sides, we have just beaten a good side tonight.

“There’s no doubt they (Frome Town) have got a lot of quality, they showed that in large spells of the game tonight but I think in the second half we just showed them who we are. Physically I felt we were stronger and we just applied ourselves in the second half.”

Lashenko was asked about going 1-0 down before Kye Simpson equalised minutes later. The Farm boss responded: “When you go a goal behind especially away from home with a crowd as supportive as tonight you’re obviously thinking you don’t want them getting themselves up. To strike back the way we did was very important.”

He was then asked about Owen Howe’s second half brace to make his goal tally 27 for the season, and the boss replied: “He’s a proper goal scorer but his all round play tonight was very impressive. Tonight I think Owen Howe showed why in my opinion he’s the best centre forward in this league scoring some very important goals.”

Bristol Manor Farm face Winchester City at the Denplan City ground next Monday.