Report by North Derbyshire Radio’s David Bell
Three goals in the opening twenty two minutes were the undoing of Dronfield Town, who went down by that very score to nil against playoff-contenders South Normanton Athletic. Daniel Fields’ seventh minute strike was followed by efforts from Archie Brown and George Morris as the Shiners moved to fourth in the UCL Division One table. Dronfield managed to stem the flow of goals in the second half but as a result, fall to thirteenth in the standings ahead of a visit to another playoff-chaser, FCV Grace Dieu, on Saturday.
The game was only seven minutes old when South Normanton took the lead. A quality left-footed strike from the edge of the area by Daniel Fields left Lewis Naylor with no chance as the visitors went one up.
South Normanton wasted no time pressing home their advantage and got a second just three minutes later. Again the degree of quality was high as an excellent ball in from the left by Leo Marshall saw Archie Brown get in front of the Dronfield defence to sidefoot home and make it 2-0.
Dronfield finally got a foot in the game in the 19th minute when a better move ended with Dan Shelbourne shooting straight at Ross Etheridge in the Shiners goal but the game was virtually ended as a contest a mere three minutes after.
Another good delivery by Marshall found the head of George Morris, who sent the ball goalwards. Lewis Naylor scrambled to keep the ball out but it crept over the goal-line to give South Normanton their third.
Dronfield did have their chances as they attempted to reduce the deficit before half time. Max Rhodes found a clear path to goal on 24 minutes but managed to skew his shot wide of the mark.
An opportunist 25 yard left footer from Alex Appleyard narrowly missed the target on 34 minutes after another better spell of possession for the hosts but the half was summed up when Morris gained another free header in added time; Naylor managing to beat the ball away on this occasion.
The second half was much better for Dronfield but with the three goal deficit, the result felt like something of a foregone conclusion. Young striker Arthur Pashley, possibly Dronfield’s biggest threat on the night, had an early effort just after the restart that went past the post.
An Arran Bovill back-header on 52 minutes from a long throw also went just wide of Etheridge’s far post as Dronfield went to the bench for inspiration.
Jack Bancroft and Matty Ord replaced Max Hatton and Joe Turner and almost put the hosts on the scoreboard.
The 64th minute mark saw an Ord corner met by an unmarked Dan White but he contrived to sky his header over the bar.
Town brought on Isaac Reardon, Mike Fereday and Callum Mawbey but the last ten minutes of the game had an air of inevitability as Dronfield struggled to break down South Normanton, who were comfortable with their three goal cushion.
Back to back home defeats mean that Dronfield fall to thirteenth in the UCL Division One table. A change in fortunes is needed to arrest the slide as Town face another tough encounter on the 3G pitch at third-placed FCV Grace Dieu on Saturday.
Dronfield Town: Naylor, Vardy, Stewart, Hatton, Shelbourne, White, Appleyard, Bovill, Rhodes, Turner, Pashley. Subs: Reardon, Ord, Bancroft, Fereday, Mawbey.
South Normanton Athletic: Etheridge, Tuckwood, Marshall, Fields, Ordidge, Radmore, Pickering, Morris, Brown, Whitehead, Foster. Subs: Snell, McKenna, Finneran, Morris, Owen.
Attendance: 96
