REPORT: Heartbreak for Dronfield against playoff challengers

There was heartbreak for Dronfield Town as they went down to a 3-2 defeat against playoff-chasing league newcomers Horbury Town. Dronfield hauled themselves back into a strong position in the second half as a Jake Hatton brace levelled the game after Horbury’s Samuel Kyeremeh had given the Wakefield-based side a two goal advantage in the opening forty five minutes. A James Smith strike three minutes from time broke the hearts of the Derbyshire side as they fell to what felt like an undeserved fifth league loss on the bounce. Dronfield fall to fourteenth in the NCEL Division One table as a result, eight points above the relegation zone, ahead of a visit to twelfth-placed Beverley Town on Saturday.

Dronfield shuffled the pack once more in light of a growing injury list but seemed none the worse for it as they were competitive for the first twenty minutes. Charlie Stewart’s free kick on fourteen minutes just zipped wide of the post from the edge of the area as the difference in league positions didn’t seem overly apparent.

Lapses in defensive concentration have been Dronfield’s downfall recently and unfortunately, the problem resurfaced on twenty one minutes. The lively Samuel Kyeremeh was allowed too much space and took the opportunity to fire home an easy shot from the edge of the box to put the visitors into the lead by 1-0.

Lightning struck twice on thirty two minutes when the same player grabbed his second of the encounter. Once again he shook his marker and had the time to curl a useful finish into the net from twenty yards out to give Horbury a two goal lead.

Despite the setbacks, Dronfield continued with their positive forward play. On thirty four minutes, a Henry Adams shot-come-chip from twenty yards narrowly missed the target.

The closest Dronfield came to pulling one back before half time occurred three minutes before the interval when Joe Pearson’s strike thundered off the bar and down on to the line. In the absence of VAR or a Russian linesman a la 1966, play was waved on.

Horbury opened the second half brightly. Strikes from the prolific James Cusworth and Samuel Awty just missed the target inside the first two minutes.

Both sides played their part in an entertaining second half and on fifty two minutes, a Sam Bebbington header for Dronfield flew across the goal mouth, just evading the touch of Tom Gladwin.

Lewis Naylor came to Dronfield’s rescue on fifty seven minutes when he saved with his legs from Cusworth at close range.

Dronfield’s injury curse struck again when Arran Bovill had to leave the field to be replaced by youngster Isaac Knight. Knight almost had an immediate impact by turning his man and shooting narrowly over the bar from the edge of the box.

The game turned dramatically on two goals in three minutes from Dronfield centre half Jake Hatton. On the seventy minute mark, Stewart’s well struck free kick from the left hand side found Hatton at the back post, who made no mistake with his clinical header.

Three minutes later, the same two players saw Dronfield pull level. Stewart’s inswinging corner found Hatton at the back post once again and he hit the ball on the full to make it 2-2.

Another excellent Dronfield move involving Nick Benson, who toiled manfully as the home side’s focal point up front all afternoon, ended with Adams scuffing his shot instead of capping a remarkable comeback.

Dronfield hearts were broken three minutes from time however as the visitors secured all three points. James Smith evaded one challenge and rode another to finish clinically just inside the area and send all three points back up the M1 to Wakefield.

The defeat was Dronfield’s fifth on the bounce, remarkable given some of the undoubted promising football they have played during that time.

Their quest for points continues on Saturday when they head to another side who haven’t won in the last five, Beverley Town.

Dronfield Town: Naylor, Riley, Stewart, Gladwin, Wright, Hatton, Adams, Bovill, Benson, Bebbington, Pearson. Subs: Flower, Siddons, Knight, Hill, Fereday.

Horbury Town: Hagreen, Ellis, Playford, Smith, Penn, Botang, Awty, Evans, Cusworth, Kyeremeh, Wassell. Subs: Agu, Kelly, Brook, Shann, Cummins.

Attendance: 87