Dronfield Show Fight - Glasshoughton Welfare vs. Dronfield Town

The Dronfield Keeper watches on

I was back up north for Christmas again and this meant I'd resume my yearly delve into the North East Counties League. The closest game from base was Glasshoughton Welfare against Dronfield Town in Division One. This year was different to previous Boxing Days in that we were able to pick a fixture earlier in the month and the weather didn't affect the fixtures leaving us watching our fifth or even sixth choice. Despite the game never being in any doubt, the strong wind made it extremely cold. Glasshoughton were in mid table while Dronfield were sixth from bottom.Just before kick off, I heard that Dronfield only had ten players available but as the headline suggests, they more than held their own despite the final score line.

Kick off at Leeds Road

Any early Glasshoughton corner almost causes panic but the ball goes into the side netting. The home side take a fortunate lead when a shot from the edge of the area bobbles in front of the keeper, deceiving him and hits the back of the net. Glasshoughton almost gift Dronfield an equaliser when the keeper miss hits a clearance and the lobbed effort from distance bends wide of goal at the very last minute. They come close again as a corner finds the man at the back post but his effort goes just wide. It is Glasshoughton however who get the next goal. A free kick into the area is not cleared and the ball falls to the Glasshoughton player who beats the Dronfield keeper at the near post to double the lead.

The Dronfield defence awaits a ball into the box

Glasshoughton almost go further ahead and it takes a brilliant save by the keeper with his feet to keep the difference to two goals. A Glasshoughton free kick then leads to a bit of a scramble but the Dronfield defence eventually clears the danger. There is very little the Dronfield defence can do about the third goal. The Glasshoughton midfielder pinches the ball and then hammers a shot from distance into the top corner to make it three nil. Dronfield then put together a couple of good passing moves but fail to properly connect with the final shots on goal. Glasshoughton's fourth comes when the winger gets to the byline and his pull back is slotted home from the middle of the goal. Then in the closing stages the Dronfield keeper makes a great close range save. Despite having ten men for the entire ninety minutes, Dronfield played the game in a good spirit and played some good football.

A Dronfield cross in the second half

If you did fancy the lengthy trip from London to Glasshoughton then you would need to take a train from Kings Cross to Pontefract Monkhill and change there for a train to Glasshoughton and the whole journey lasts two and a half hours. The walk from the station to Leeds Road would take no longer than half an hour. Around the corner from the ground is The Royal Oak which has the sports channels for the early kick off as well as a good selection of beers. The clubhouse is part of a local sports facility and had a decent selection of cans. 

The standard of NECL programmes is impressive

The Glasshoughton winger in front of the clubhouse building