Yousuf Hoque gave the new looking visitors the lead halfway through the first half in what was a game of spurned chances and deep into added time, and Christian Gyamfi sealed the win for Frenford as he caught Rovers off guard.

It wasn’t the way Marcus Bowers wanted to mark his 150th game in the dugout for the Rovers and will have plenty of work to do in order to bounce back.

Kickoff:

The game burst into action from the first whistle and chances went begging for both sides.

After 8 minutes, a long throw into the Frenford box saw both sides scramble for the ball.Brian Songolo managed to get control of the ball and set up Reece Placid on the edge of the box. However, his shot was comfortably saved by the keeper Dominic Alexandru.

With 15 minutes played, Frenford had a great chance to take the lead on a good counter attack. Nicholas Solomon was played out wide on the left and managed to cut inside the box past his defender and curled a goal bound shot into the top right corner. However, George Marsh incredibly managed to get across and tip the ball over the bar.

After the resulting corner, Rovers managed to clear their lines and Keanu Hill pinged a great ball through to Harry Talbot to run at goal. The attacker managed to hold off his defender but his shot was straight into the grateful hands of Alexandru.

The game was getting tense as chances kept going a begging and with 24 minutes on the clock, Frenford punished the Rovers as they took the lead.

Yousuf Hoque received the ball on the counter and ran at goal. Rovers defended poorly as the Frenford forward managed to skip past several challenges before firing a low shot which Marsh parried but the forward was quick and smashed in the rebound.

On 36 minutes, Frenford almost doubled their lead when a cross across goal missed everyone. Nicholas Solomon managed to chase the ball down and skipped his way into the box before firing a shot which was well held by Marsh.

With three minutes left of the half, a drop kick by Alexandru went straight to Keanu Hill on the halfway line and attempted a long range audacious effort but his shot just floated over the bar.

Halftime: Rovers 0-1 Frenford

The second half was completely different however as Rovers struggled to find rhythm and lacked consistency. Frenford stuck to their game plan well and continued to frustrate the home side as they limited the Rovers to any clear cut chances.

On 65 minutes, Rovers thought they had levelled the score when a good move found Jack Mitchell on the edge with of the box. His fierce strike was well saved by Alexandru low to his left and Brian Songolo tapped in from point blank range. However, the assistant’s flag was up and the goal was chalked off.

Rovers tried in vein of searching for the equaliser.

Christian Gyamfi went into the referees book for disagreeing with the referee following a foul but the free kick was easily cleared.

With 75 minutes gone, Reece Placid went extremely close when he was found on the edge of the box and his dipping effort went inches past the right post. Some claimed Alexandru made a great save to tip the ball around the post but the appealed were ignored.

The visitors were rolling down the clock and were soaking up the pressure as Rovers continued to bombard them.

Marcus attempted to freshen things up with substitutions in an attempt to get back in the game but deep into stoppage time, the visitors sealed the win as they doubled their lead.

Kevin Krans was fouled just by the centre circle and quickly took a free kick to send Christian Gyamfi through on goal which caught the Rovers off guard. The forward was too quick and he ran on through before slotting the ball in the bottom right to seal the win for the visitors.

Fulltime: Rovers 0-2 Frenford

A tough way to start for the Rovers. They will now need to put the loss behind them and get ready as they welcome Takeley on Saturday in the FA Cup.