BOTH sides appeared to be exhausted from their matches 48 hours earlier and the lack of goalmouth action was reflected in the scoreline.

On the positive side for the Bluebirds was another clean sheet and the introduction of substitute Lee Phillips on 82 minutes, making his first appearance since his knee surgery.

The closest anyone came to breaking the deadlock was on 53 minutes when Alex Ferguson stretched to volley goalwards.

The ball beat Darren Chitty but thumped against the crossbar, otherwise both keepers had a relatively quiet afternoon.

Charlie Griffin had three chances in the opening 20 minutes, his first effort was easily held by Chitty whilst the second – a free kick- was saved at his near post by the Frome stopper.

Then a ball over the top saw Chitty race off his line to force Griffin wide and his shot from a narrow angle was way off target of the unguarded net.

Frome finally threatened on 22 minutes when Kent Kauppinen blocked Lewis Haldane’s shot and his subsequent follow-up effort went across the face of goal and beyond the far post.

Three minutes later a clever move by Haldane set up Rhys Baggridge but he rolled his shot wide.

As Frome continued to have the better of what chances were going a deep free kick saw Kauppinen save Chris McGrath’s headed effort, whilst the half drew to a close with Jon Vance’s shot from wide on the left sailing wide to the right of goal.

After the break Frome’s Matt Smith cut inside before firing high and wide whilst at the other end Griffin’s low ball across the face of goal was just toe-poked out for a corner before Griffin found Jordan Roberts whose shot from a narrow angle also went across the Frome goalmouth.

After Ferguson struck the bar, the Bluebirds lost right back Luke Ballinger to a foot injury.

This caused a reorganisation at the back with Mark Preece moving to right back, Jon Beeden moved into the centre from left back and James Guthrie dropped back to left back. Jon Vance’s low free kick went round the wall but was easily gathered by Kauppinen.

Roberts then shot over the bar from 25 yards out whilst Kauppinen’s huge clearance was headed backwards by McGrath into the path of substitute Jack Odam whose shot was too high.

Griffin then got an attempted lob horribly wrong whilst Ollie Taylor blazed over the Bluebirds bar following a corner.

Chippenham: Kent Kauppinen, Luke Ballinger (Jack Odam 58), Jon Beeden, Matt Coupe, Jordan Roberts, Mark Preece, Alex Ferguson, Iain Harvey, Charlie Griffin (Lee Phillips 82), Ashan Holgate, James Guthrie.

Subs not used: Conor McCormack, Greg Tindle.

Frome: Darren Chitty, Mark Cooper, Anthony Tonkin, Rhys Baggridge, Jack Vallis, Chris McGrath, Jon Vance (Brandon Munday 82), Matt Smith, Lewis Haldane (Matt Minnis 86), Ollie Taylor, Ricky Hulbert (Kris Miller 63).

Subs not used: Harry Walker, Dylan Bonella.

Referee: Mark Derrien (Dorchester).

Assistant referees: Joanna Stimpson (Street), Kevin Williams (Clandown).

Attendance: 304