Goals may have been at a premium but Dronfield Town were delighted to take a 1-0 win away at Worsbrough Bridge Athletic. An entertaining fixture played out with both sides having several opportunities but it was Max Rhodes’ 78th minute strike that sent the three points back to S18. Town had goalkeeping captain Lewis Naylor to thank for a succession of vital stops and now head into their final three games in ninth place in the NCEL Division One table. Playoff-chasing Wombwell Town are next up at the HE Barnes Stadium on Saturday as a memorable campaign draws ever nearer to its close.
The officials and volunteers of Worsbrough Bridge did well to ensure the fixture went ahead and despite the inevitable heavy nature of the surface, both sides contributed to an entertaining game. A useful delivery from the right by James Lindores was scrambled out for a corner in the opening moments; Tom Gladwin blazing over the bar out of the set piece.
A Max Rhodes effort from distance went easily wide on the 4 minute mark but Dronfield had skipper and keeper Lewis Naylor to thank for repelling the attacks of Worsbrough up to half time. He saved from Holt on 8 minutes as the Briggers were forced into an early substitution following an injury to Simpkins.
Naylor bravely saved at Swinburn’s feet after the striker had beaten the offside trap at the 26 minute stage and nine minutes later, a measured ball from the outside of Holt’s boot found the same player; his low shot passing Naylor’s far post by the tiniest of margins.
A defensive mix-up seven minutes from the break almost caused embarrassment to Dronfield. Naylor found himself well out of his goalmouth but recovered well to save from the lively Holt.
Worsbrough would regret their failure to make any of their chances stick as Dronfield replied strongly in the second half. As early as the 50th minute, another teasing ball in from the right by Lindores saw Bovill and Rhodes unable to get their shots off cleanly.
With the pressure mounting, the hour mark saw a relatively unchallenged Kenan McKenzie-Grey sidefoot wide after another Dronfield corner but back fought Worsbrough as Naylor tipped over from substitute Horbury after a neat pull back by Holt.
The game was end-to-end stuff by this stage and just a minute after, a speculative long distance effort from Arran Bovill cleared Worsbrough custodian Preston but just dropped agonisingly wide of his goal.
The breakthrough came on 78 minutes. An excellent through-ball from Bovill put top-scorer Max Rhodes in the clear and his equally-excellent strike powered past Preston to make it 1-0 to the visitors.
The incident didn’t end there. Bovill found himself in the clear a minute from time and having been hauled down by Worsbrough centre half Birks, the referee had no option but to brandish the red card. Town substitute Nick Benson’s curling free kick was headed for the top corner but Preston acrobatically tipped the ball out for a corner.
The win, which incidentally came on Manager Chris Millington’s birthday, carries Dronfield up to ninth in the table, one point ahead of tenth-placed Staveley, who are Town’s penultimate opponents of the season.
Their quest for a top ten finish continues on Saturday when Wombwell Town, currently in 6th but having lost to Dronfield earlier in the season, are the visitors to the HE Barnes Stadium.
Worsbrough Bridge: Preston, Blake, Simpkins, Glavin, Cawthorn, Birks, Holt, Wigglesworth, Gillott, Swinburn, Hutchinson. Subs: Bradford, Smith H, Horbury, Smith D, Gillott.
Dronfield Town: Naylor, Bebbington, Riley, Lester, Mawbey, Gladwin, Knight, Bovill, Rhodes, Lindores, McKenzie-Grey. Subs: Benson, Siddons, Pearson, Thorpe M, Rooke.
Attendance: 115