Dronfield Town returned to winning ways with a comprehensive 4-1 victory away at Ollerton Town. A hat-trick by leading scorer Max Rhodes all but sealed the win, which was capped off by an eye-catching strike from midfielder Arran Bovill. Hosts Ollerton, currently bottom of the table, battled in a way that belied their position in the standings but were unable to prevent Dronfield returning to ninth place ahead of the visit of Clay Cross Town to the HE Barnes Stadium on Tuesday evening for the A61 derby.
The game was played at a good tempo throughout and 23rd-placed Ollerton troubled the Dronfield defence in the early stages. The ten minute mark saw forward Malachi Bailey play in Adam Stubbs, whose right footed effort narrowly went past the post.
Dronfield themselves pressed the Ollerton rearguard – Mike Fereday sliced his shot wide after being fed by Rhodes and Connor Chapell’s left footed strike went wide of the mark following James Lindores’ long throw.
Ollerton were unable to exploit the freedom they were given at times by Dronfield’s defence and eventually went a goal behind on 25 minutes.
Fereday was felled by a high challenge that left the referee with no alternative but to award a penalty. Max Rhodes stepped up and dispatched the spot kick low to Anandu Rajendran’s right to give Dronfield a 1-0 lead.
Midfielder Arran Bovill impressed all afternoon and the half hour mark saw him test Rajendran, who tipped over the bar. Just a minute later, his free header from Chapell’s corner went wide of the mark as the Dronfield display went up a notch.
The half concluded on a Max Rhodes free kick from fully 25 yards that was pushed out of play by the Ollerton custodian; Callum Mawbey heading over from the resulting corner.
Dronfield doubled their lead on the resumption of the game after the break. Following a corner, the ball fell to Callum Mawbey, whose left footed hit was turned in at the back post by Rhodes to make it 2-0.
Rhodes completed his hat-trick on 59 minutes with his 26th goal in all competitions for the season. Mawbey’s quick throw in the direction of Rhodes saw the young striker produce a sublime turn off his marker before going on to slot past Rajendran to all but seal the game at 3-0.
The three goal cushion allowed Dronfield to run their bench in view of a challenging spell of games to come. Sub Nick Benson came up with a testing shot as he lost balance, Rajendran managing to cling on to the striker’s effort.
Despite Dronfield’s dominance, Ollerton kept plugging away and got a consolation on 76 minutes. Jack Roys climbed above the Dronfield defence to head home from a far side corner with the score at 3-1.
Any hopes of a comeback from the home side were soon banished as Benson found the sidenetting on 81 minutes and five minutes from time, Dronfield wrapped up the three points.
Callum Riley’s ball from the right flank was met by Arran Bovill, whose first time stab with the outside of his boot saw the ball ricochet into the goal and seal the game at 4-1.
The win sees Dronfield back up to ninth place in the table. Eight games remain in the season, the next of which is the visit of eighteenth-placed Clay Cross Town to the HE Barnes Stadium on Tuesday evening. Kick off is 7.45pm.
Ollerton Town: Rajendran, Line, Cullingworth, Pick, Stevenson, Brown, Stubbs, Roys, Bailey, Spencer, Weall. Subs: Betts, Brentnall, Simmons, Sherwood, Francis.
Dronfield Town: Naylor, Fereday, Wright, Lester, Hatton, Bovill, Chapell, Knight, Rhodes, Mawbey, Lindores. Subs: Gladwin, Riley, Parfitt, Bebbington, Benson.
Attendance: 83