A Derby-Day six pointer went entirely the wrong way for Dronfield Town as they dipped by 5-0 at home to rivals Swallownest FC. Goals from Alex Wonham and James Hardeman inside the opening quarter of an hour set the tone for a poor Dronfield display. Despite the dreadful weather conditions, the South Yorkshire side followed that up with a brace from Billy Stafford either side of a Hardeman header to be fully-deserving of the win. Swallownest now climb above Dronfield into 17th with Town dropping to 18th , just a single point above the relegation zone. Life doesn’t get any easier now for Dronfield with a trip to playoff-chasing Wakefield being their next scheduled fixture.
The game almost began on a high for Dronfield. Inside the opening minute, Sam Bebbington saw his effort from 18 yards out rebound off the angle of crossbar and post and away to safety.
That was about as good as got from Dronfield all afternoon as a hard-working Swallownest got on the board inside 8 minutes. Tom Mestre broke through the Dronfield defence and squared to Alex Wonham, who sidefooted home from close range to make it 1-0 to the visitors.
They doubled their advantage on 14 minutes. Again it was all too easy to split the Town defence as James Hardeman found himself in the clear, slotting home for goal number two from 12 yards out.
Two almost became three two minutes after as Wonham’s shot from 20 yards was spectacularly tipped over the bar by Dronfield skipper Lewis Naylor.
Dronfield were restricted to a couple of well-delivered corners by Connor Chapell but were unable to make sufficient contact to turn them into goals.
Swallownest had a gilt-edged chance to make it three on 39 minutes when a left wing delivery found Wonham unmarked at the back post but he put his header over the crossbar.
An injury to Matty Ord saw him replaced by Arran Bovill at half time and a further change saw Mark Fereday withdrawn in favour of Ethan Flower with Sam Bebbington moving up front.
The weather conditions worsened with swirling winds and driving rain and Dronfield’s third substitution saw Riley Noble leave the game to be replaced by Charlie Stewart.
Immediately after the substitution, Swallownest got their third. The visitors found Billy Stafford out on the angle towards the left of the box and he had the time to despatch it past Naylor at 3-0.
The fourth came four minutes later. Swallownest stood the ball up from the right flank and Hardeman was there to head home from close-range relatively unchallenged with the score at 4-0.
Swallownest ran their bench safe in the knowledge that the game was won but weren’t finished there. Three minutes into added time, Stafford dispossessed the Dronfield defence and tapped into the empty net having gone round Lewis Naylor to wrap the game up at 5-0.
Swallownest climb above Dronfield into 17th place as a result and send Town firmly into a relegation battle. They now sit in 18th, just a solitary point above the drop zone and with a tough run of fixtures to follow. The first of those is a visit to playoff-seeking Wakefield AFC next Saturday, quickly followed by the visit of Wombwell Town in the pre-Christmas game.
Dronfield Town: Naylor, Bebbington, Noble, Lester, Gladwin, Hobson, Chapell, Thorpe, Rhodes, Fereday, Ord. Subs: Flower, Siddons, Stewart, Bovill
Swallownest: Sykes, Pierkarski, Skelton, Nix, Hardeman, Rudd, Bown, Mestre, Stafford, Wonham, Atkins. Subs: Yeardley Monach, Kovac, Jafta, Abel, Mullane.
Attendance: 58
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