A single goal defeat at home to Worsbrough Bridge Athletic saw Dronfield Town drop three places in the Northern Counties East League Division One table. The game was played out in a mixture of blazing sunshine and torrential rain and it was during one of the wet spells that Town’s Mike Fereday unfortunately put through his own goal to give the visitors from Barnsley all three points. Dronfield dominated the first half but were less than effective in a turgid second period and must look to bounce back with a visit to Ollerton Town on Tuesday evening.
Dronfield played some eye-catching football in the opening 45 minutes but were left to rue that fact that they never got on the scoresheet.
Worsbrough were forced into a ninth minute substitution when Ben Donoghue picked up a knock and was replaced by Thomas Cadzow.
The lengthy delay for the injury meant that the game never really got going until Joe Pearson’s effort followed a neat passing move in the 13th minute.
Worsbrough saw Mike Jepps header go wide from a corner a minute later but it was Dronfield who looked most likely to go ahead.
James Lindores’ 22nd minute shot from distance was deflected out for a corner. From the resulting set piece, the ball fell back to the young striker whose half volley went just wide.
Ten minutes after, another neat exchange of passes between Mark Fereday and Callum Mawbey saw Mawbey unleash a fierce drive that resulted in yet another corner. A Charlie Stewart inswinger found Sam Bebbington at the back post but he was unable to force his header inside the upright.
Worsbrough had a couple of fairly ineffectual free kicks of their own as Dronfield passed up another chance to go in ahead at the break.
Stewart’s pinpoint delivery found Mawbey this time at the back stick but he headed over with the goal at his mercy.
Almost inevitably, it was the visitors who took the lead three minutes after the restart. A torrential downpour at half time made conditions tricky and from a Worsbrough corner, it was Dronfield’s Mike Fereday who unfortunately turned the ball into his own net.
Sadly, Dronfield’s second half performance did not reach the standards achieved in the first, although a glancing header from Mawbey narrowly scraped over Brett Souter’s crossbar in the 67th minute.
Frustrated that no-one had converted any of his excellent corner deliveries, Charlie Stewart had a goalbound attempt from a free kick on 70 minutes that curled out of play.
Worsbrough were extremely determined in the second half and it took a challenge from Dronfield’s Tom Staniland to put off the pacy Harley Holt, when the substitute found himself in the clear.
Dronfield had skipper Lewis Naylor to thank that the scoreline didn’t double when he pulled off an outstanding point blank stop from Lewis O’Connor as an Owen Lester effort inside the last ten minutes was again met with a deflection.
The game ended in ignominy for Town; Nick Benson went into the book for a late challenge and Callum Mawbey ended the contest on the bench after being sin-binned in the dying embers.
As a result, Dronfield dropped three places to fifteenth in the Division One table ahead of a Tuesday evening visit to Ollerton Town, defeated by an astonishing 11-0 away at Wakefield AFC on Saturday afternoon.
Dronfield Town: Naylor, Mike Fereday, Staniland, Stewart, Bovill, Bebbington, Chapell, Mawbey, Mark Fereday, Lindores, Pearson. Subs: Knight, Rhodes, Lester, Benson.
Worsbrough Bridge Athletic: Souter, Blake, Simpkins, Glavin, Wilson, Cawthorn, Nicholson, Donoghue, Horbury, Jepps, Hutchinson. Subs: Holt, Dunn, O’Connor, Russell, Cadzow.
Attendance: 155
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