Dronfield Town’s recent return to form continued to good effect with a 4-0 takedown of near-neighbours Shirebrook Town. A Mark Fereday brace was bookended by goals from Arran Bovill and James Lindores as the side from the HE Barnes Stadium climbed one place to ninth in the Northern Counties East League Division One. Visitors Shirebrook were down to ten men with the red card dismissal of Fabian Johnson in the first half and saw the ten become nine in the second half with Kane Gregory sent to the sin bin as they fell to 15th in the standings.
The pitch at Stonelow was in remarkably good condition given the extreme rain of the previous week and morning showers enlivened it even further to ensure that an intriguing contest would play out.
Dronfield carried on with the attacking intent they had displayed on Tuesday evening when they beat Borrowash Victoria in the Derbyshire Senior Cup. Matty Ord made himself a constant nuisance down the right flank as the men from S18 went in search of an early opener.
They only had ten minutes to wait as Ord fed Sam Bebbington coming up from right full back. Bebbington’s cross came at a testing height for the Shirebrook defence and was headed home by a stooping Arran Bovill to make it 1-0.
Shirebrook tried to find long outlet balls to towering centre forward Josh Parfitt but despite a considerable height difference, Dronfield centre back pairing Billy Wright and Callum Riley were more than up to the task as the home side chose to keep the ball on the zippy surface.
Further problems arose for Shirebrook on 25 minutes when Parfitt’s strike partner Fabian Johnson was given a red card. His undeniably late challenge on Owen Lester was adjudged to warrant dismissal from the field as the visitors were reduced to ten men.
Ironically, Shirebrook regrouped with a reorganised formation and looked to be holding firm for the half time whistle until they suffered another blow.
Dronfield’s Mark Fereday found himself in acres of space bearing down on goal and fired past Joe Dunn in the Shirebrook net to make it 2-0, as the visitors looked to the linesman for an offside flag.
No reaction came from the ten men after the break as Dronfield set off like a train following the resumption. A couple of attacks came to nothing but it was no surprise when the home side made it three. Fereday had the easy task of blasting home from close range after another dangerous ball from the right with there appearing to be no way back from 3-0.
Things went from bad to worse for Shirebrook on 54 minutes when full back Kane Gregory was yellow carded and sent for a ten minute stretch in the sin bin.
Once again, the visitors managed to regroup and avoid further damage despite only having nine men on the park. Sensibly, Dronfield withdrew key players and gave valuable minutes to the bench, mindful of the programme of games to come.
The win was well and truly sealed on 81 minutes by one of those substitutes, youngster James Lindores. He cut in from his left wing assignment and rifled home an excellent finish to wrap up a good afternoon’s work for Dronfield Town.
Despite the controversy over the red card incident, the game was well officiated by referee Danielle Whitworth in front of an appreciative crowd of 121 at the HE Barnes Stadium.
Dronfield now move on to an away contest next Saturday at another near-neighbour, 12th placed Swallownest FC.
Dronfield Town: Naylor, Bebbington, Gladwin, Lester, Wright, Riley, Chapell, Bovill, Mark Fereday, Pearson, Ord. Subs: Flower, Rooke, Crowe, Lindores, Knight.
Shirebrook Town: Dunn, Grayson, Gregory, Mullins, Allcock, Ordidge, Gaunt, Ramsey, Parfitt, Johnson, Clayton. Subs: Higginson, Sam Devereux, Sykes-Tobin, Bonel, Josh Devereux.
Attendance: 121
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