Dronfield Town suffered a sizeable 4-0 defeat at the hands of playoff-chasing Wakefield AFC but their performance was much better than the scoreline suggested. Former Chesterfield man Curtis Morrison opened the scoring for Wakefield with a quality strike on 24 minutes to separate the teams at half time. Unfortunately, three second half goals in nine minutes, two of which were scored by Wakefield skipper Brad McGowan either side of a Callum Brooks strike, sealed Dronfield’s fate as they fell to a third straight defeat. Town’s workrate and application was decent for the most part however and they will need similar when they entertain second-placed Wombwell Town at the HE Barnes Stadium next Saturday.
Dronfield were a little short-handed for the Wakefield encounter and set up in a 5-3-2 formation in a bid to combat the attack-minded home side. Indeed, the fifth minute saw Wakefield winger Callum Brooks sidefoot on to the crossbar as they signalled their intentions.
Town largely tried to weather the Wakefield attacks and play on the break and did that to good effect until the 24th minute when their hosts took the lead. Debutant Curtis Morrison received the ball out on the right and struck it with his left foot from distance to send it sailing past Lewis Naylor and put Wakefield one goal to the good.
Despite the setback, Dronfield continued to battle and their third nice move on the break saw James Lindores through but Wakefield stopper Paul Cooper was on hand to mop up.
Wakefield ended the half with chances for Shay Evans-Booth and Aaron Pilkington but it was Morrison’s one moment of quality that separated the sides at half time.
The start of the second half was similar. Another Morrison strike from 20 yards narrowly cleared the bar on 49 minutes and on 54 minutes, Dronfield youngster Matt Thorpe dummied his man and shot just wide with his unfavoured left boot.
Three goals in nine minutes put paid to a plucky Dronfield display. On 67 minutes, Jaydan Sandhu’s free kick from the left sailed across the Dronfield six yard area and Wakefield skipper Brad McGowan was on hand to apply the finishing touch.
Wakefield got their third just 3 minutes later. A free kick from the right this time was headed down by Evans-Booth into the path of Callum Brooks, who slotted home comfortably to all but kill the game.
McGowan’s second on 76 minutes most definitely did secure the points for the home side. In a carbon copy of his first, the cross from the left flank was unfortunately back-headed by Town’s Callum Riley into the path of the Wakefield skipper, who again forced it home at 4-0.
Dronfield withdrew James Lindores and Matt Thorpe and introduced Ethan Flower and another promotee from the U21’s, Harry Marsh, but were unable to get the consolation that their hard-working performance had probably deserved.
A second tough game awaits Town in consecutive weeks as second-placed Wombwell Town visit the HE Barnes Stadium on Saturday, fresh from a 3-0 win over Dearne & District at the weekend.
Wakefield AFC: Cooper, Pilkington, Charlton, Sandhu, Salt, McGowan, Morrison, Smith, Evans-Booth, Gashi, Brooks. Subs: Gelder, Nyarko, Losa, McKenzie-Grey.
Dronfield Town: Naylor, Thorpe J, Riley, Lester, Bovill, Hobson, Chapell, Thorpe M, Rhodes, Bebbington, Lindores. Subs: Flower, Siddons, Marsh.
Attendance: 178
Comments