What was forecast to be a pretty dismal day has turned out to be a quite pleasant afternoon at the 'Stonelow Playing Fields' and although Dudsey`s no stranger to this `Neck of the Woods` I have to admit to never visiting Dronfield Town's ground before.It`s a Majestic little set-up with great potential should they progress even further up the pyramidNewly promoted as Champions from the Central Midlands North Division last season, they saw off promotion rivals Afc Mansfield with an impressive 24 game winning run and also took the bragging rights by beating them 1-5 in their own back yard.
Since promotion life in the Ncel for Dronfield seems to be something of a 'Baptism of Fire', having only picked up one point from their opening seven league games.
Having dropped the 'Miners Welfare' tag for the 2013/14 season, Clipstone having finished in eleventh position last season seem to have found stability within the Ncel and now have set themselves a realistic target of promotion to the Premier Division, aided by the guidance of Chairman...Brett Marshall who's certainly no stranger as to what's required to achieve great things on a low budget, having took Retford United to the pinnacle of the Ncel in the 2011/12 season.
A bit of a Football Faux Pas this afternoon...both sides struggled to produce the game all in attendance anticipated and although there were brief spells of decent play. Between that and a Ref who would have been more suited to an Under 11's kick-about, he went out of his way to reduce the game to possibly the hardest forty five minutes of football I`ve seen this season.
Dronfield started off quite brightly through some decent play between Nick Horsfield, Dan Wood and Lewis Naylor and looked as though they meant business. Pete Stubley, Kieron Watson and Ian Hillier are trying to make some headway for the visitors but Stuart Hill is doing a sterling job as a makeshift Sweeper, he`s produced a string of finely timed tackles to deny their advances.
After the first twenty minutes the remainder of the first half was played out with both Keeper`s hoofing it over the top and hoping someone would have the initiative to pick up the scraps. Needless to say it went into the interval 0-0.
Half-Time...and refreshments have to be obtained from Coal Aston`s Cricket Club Tea-Room, with no hot food available it`s a Cheese Sandwich and a Tea, all for the Princely sum of £1.50. It`s turned out to be a glorious afternoon as the sun beats down. Dudsey sits and takes in a couple of overs during the interval, Coal Aston`s second XI are 148 for 4 off of 34 overs.
Back down the steps to the touchline in the hope of a better second half, Dudsey catches Marsh coming out of the changing room...he`s shouted himself horse in his half-time rant at his under performing team.Despite his words of wisdom, Dronfield look the brighter of the two sides in the opening spell.
The Ref is still getting it seriously wrong, the bookings must now have exceeded the corner-count and it seems inevitable that the chance of both teams finishing with eleven men is next to none.
Eventually, the visitors start to find their feet, although a goal from either side still seems a mile away. Dudsey`s having a chat with Mr Clipstone...Barry Clarke, he say`s he feels sorry for anyone who had paid to watch the game today (Cuckoo..."that`s me").
Jokes out of the way it`s starting to look more like a game of football in the second half. Dronfield`s Tom Carnall is having an excellent second half and has missed nothing, he`s virtually managed to stop nearly all of the visitors advances single handed.
Watson finds himself with plenty of space in-front of goal and should have buried it only to lose out with his final touch. Eventually the first inevitable second booking comes as Dronfield`s skipper...Ashley Rawson is given his marching orders. A man to the good, Clipstone start to look the dominant side but Carnall is still hell-bent on keeping the door firmly shut.
Stubley, Watson and Hillier are determined to turn the one man deficit into a result, a quick break from the right finds Stubley heading towards Nick Siddons' goal, only to be up-ended by the No1 shirt, Mr Evans awards the penalty but neither cautions him or even has a word. Rob Paling places the ball on the spot and drills the ball low and hard towards the bottom right-hand corner but Siddons is right on it and makes a fine save.
The game continues to gain some sort of momentum...the home-side are managing to make the odd break and a foray down the left-flank results in Paling clattering into Dronfield`s Callum Mawby, it`s his second yellow and it`s down to ten men for the visitors as well.
Thinking they might have blown their chance with the man advantage, Clipstone get a break and make a charge towards goal and in the dying minutes Watson puts 'The Cobra`s' ahead from Stubley`s well timed ball. Thinking 'Lady Luck' had gifted them with a fortuitous three points the visitors are caught napping from the re-start and in the time it takes Dudsey to Tweet the goal, Dronfield have got the ball in the back of Ed Eley`s net through Mawby... unbelievable,1-1 on practically the last kick of the ball.
Perhap`s it`s been an off-day for both sides but it`s definitely been hard on the eyes this afternoon, a much needed point for Dronfield, no doubt Marsh will be seething that what looked like a definite three points in the dying minutes was squandered so cheaply from the re-start.
My Man of the Match - Tom Carnall (a faultless defending display)
Click here for Match Pictures
Teams - Dronfield : Siddons, Hemsley, Butler, Rawson, Carnall, Hill, Whitehead, Mawby, Naylor, Horsfield, Wood. Subs - Gange, Ashton, Roberts, Fordham.
Clipstone - Eley, Paling, Shaw, R.Austin, Pride, M.Austin, Hillier, Carty, Watson, Stubley, Millington. Subs : Hales, King, Webster, Allan.
Attendance - 68
Admission - £3
No comments:
Post a Comment