REPORT: Dronfield edged out by North Ferriby

Another tough fixture for Dronfield Town ended in a narrow 1-2 defeat against the highly-fancied North Ferriby FC. Again, there was no lack of application and endeavour from Chris Millington’s men, who defended resolutely. Town took an early lead through James Bennion but eventually succumbed to defeat through a goal in each half from Harvey Carew and Niall Tilsley. A break from league action now follows as Dronfield head to South Liverpool in the second qualifying round of the FA Vase.

The game began in the best possible fashion for Dronfield. Mike Fereday’s ball into the area was met by the head of James Bennion to put Town one to the good despite protests from the visitors that he had impeded Jordan Douglas in the Ferriby goal.

The game was played at high tempo throughout and despite pressure from the visitors, Dronfield frequently soaked it up. The back four of Fereday, Hill, Fairweather and Wright formed a solid rearguard and it took until the twenty first minute for the Villagers to get back on level terms.

A quick throw on the right released Danny Emerton and his low cross was finished by Harvey Carew to make it 1-1.

Matt Plummer, who made several sorties from central defence stung Lewis Naylor’s hands from the edge of the area on twenty four minutes and towards the end of the half, Carew’s cross from the left eventually saw Levi Tarbotton volley over from six yards.

Plummer headed into Naylor’s hands from Forrester’s free kick mid way inside the Dronfield half but an interval score of 1-1 reflected positives for both sides.

North Ferriby continued to press forward at the start of the second half. A couple of testing crosses from ex Hull City and Grimsby Town man Jamie Forrester ended with Emerton drilling wide from the edge of the box just five minutes after the restart.

Town’s Lewis Naylor produced a decent save to his right hand side from Ferriby’s Danny East on the fifty five minute mark and the Dronfield stopper followed that up by tipping over a swirling twenty yard effort from Forrester three minutes later.

Just a minute later, North Ferriby took the lead. Forrester’s right wing corner found skipper Niall Tilsley climbing above a mass of players to head the visitors in front.

Dronfield welcomed back Mark Fereday from the subs bench with around twenty minutes to go but efforts from Emerton and East, who shot wide when he really should have hit the target, continued the trend of Ferriby pushing forward.

Dronfield never capitulated however and had a chance to level matters eight minutes from time. A ball into the Ferriby area fell to the feet of Sam Bebbington but he was unable to get his shot off in time.

Another narrow defeat for Dronfield as they remain fixed in nineteenth position in the Northern Counties East League Division One. Recent performances suggest that they are not a million miles away from a consistent run and there would be no better time for such a run to begin than on Saturday when they head to South Liverpool FC in the FA Vase.

Dronfield Town: Naylor, Bebbington, Wright, Lester, Hill, Fairweather, Mike Fereday, Rooke, Dawson, Savage, Bennion. Subs: Flower, Berry, Willis, Siddons, Mark Fereday.

North Ferriby: Douglas, Kemp, Leyland, Tarbotton, Tilsley, Plummer, Emerton, Kirk, Forrester, East, Carew. Subs: McFadyen, Exall, Fenton, Rogerson.

Attendance: 106