Ollerton Beaten by In-Form Dronfield

Report by Will Lavelle

In what was a proverbial game of two halves, Ollerton remained competitive but were eventually overpowered by an in-form Dronfield team as they slipped to a comprehensive 2-0 defeat.
Ollerton played the more effective football early on,as Dronfield were reliant on long balls to get out, and almost took an early lead through George Pearce. Bingham played a well weighted through ball in behind to Gav King who cut the ball back but Pearce wasn't able to make a solid enough contact with the ball.
The first half was generally quite an end to end affair and Dronfield pushed hard for the opener and will have been disappointed to not take the lead as Christian Savage leathered the ball against the bar from close range.
In spite of the Dronfield pressure Ollerton continued to look dangerous and squandered what was arguably the most clear cut chance of the first half. New signing Eden Homer played a brilliant through ball in behind the Dronfield defence towards King who was able to round Dronfield goalkeeper Lewis Naylor, but couldn't pull the trigger early enough and saw his eventual effort blocked in a last ditch defensive effort.
After wasting a guilt edged opportunity Ollerton were made to pay for not taking their chances as a Dronfield corner flew straight over Scott Gretton and was easily converted by Stuart Hill.
Breaking the deadlock gave Dronfield the impetus to look to press home their advantage and they were only denied by a wonder save from Gretton. A cross from the right hand side eventually fell to Willis on the edge of the box who hammered a shot just inside the left post but Gretton made an excellent save as Dronfield had to settle for just the one goal advantage at end of the first half.
The first half was a very competitive end-to-end affair but the second half showcased why Dronfield are the form team in the league as their strong start to the half was rewarded with another goal. A whipped cross from the left wing was headed forward by Callum Mawbey to double Dronfield's lead.
Dronfield started to assert their control on the game after the second goal and were unlucky to not be further ahead after multiple missed opportunities. Savage blazed a relatively easy close range volley over and Mawbey saw his looped header leave Gretton helpless but landed on top of the bar and went behind for a goal kick.
Ollerton were quite clearly overpowered in the second half and switched to the 4-4-2 as Dronfield had been dominating the ball against Ollerton's five defender system, and while Ollerton looked like a more potent attacking force, Dronfield still had the higher quality chances. A cross across goal from the right wing looked to provide Savage with a certain goal but the striker was put under pressure by the Ollerton defence and fluffed his lines from a yard out.
Ollerton had a degree of success after the switch to the 4-4-2 but created nothing more than a few half chances and Dronfield should've seen out the game as Matty Ord slipped in Mawbey but he was
unable to get his second of the game as he blazed the close range effort over the bar. Ollerton were finally able to test Dronfield keeper Naylor late on in the half with a driven long range effort from Bowkett but Naylor easily parried the ball away.