Their opponents Walsall were lying in fifth place. The sides had met in September in Walsall with Dronfield coming away with a 40-24 victory. However, since then, the visitors had improved significantly and it was expected to be a close game especially bearing in mind the unavailability of Dronfield key lineout forwards.
Conditions at Gosforth Fields were much improved since last Saturday's victory over West Bridgeford and Dronfield welcomed into their first team squad, for the first time, Elias Aweimrin and Robbie Nash. With Walsall's normal colours being red Dronfield, as the home side, were forced to wear their change strip of green and black shirts. Would this turn out to be an unlucky omen.
There was a delayed start to the game due to Walsall's late arrival. Once the game started it was obvious that the visitors were a well drilled side with excellent defensive skills and a confident approach to attack. They were determined to show that they were well prepared for an agressive encounter and on three times in the first fifteen minutes were guilty of cynical play.
On the third occasion a deliberate head- butt on a Dronfield player, led the referee to issue a straight red card to the Walsall No 5. Incidentally this became the third red card Walsall have received this season and should therefore lead to them having some points deducted which may affect their league position.With the game evenly balanced in the first quarter it would need something special to break the deadlock and not for the first time this season.
It was skipper Jak Steade scoring from a solo effort which he started near the half way line. His jinking run and changes of pace outwitting the Walsall defenders. When he added a conversion Dronfield led 7-0 They unfortunately did not hold this lead for long with Walsall capitalising on a Dronfield mistake to score in the corner.
A successful kick brought the teams level at 7-7. Soon after Walsall were awarded one of the many penalties given away by Dronfield and their reliable place- kicker gave them a 10-7 lead. With play moving from end to end the lead changed hands once more. Quick possession from a maul and well timed passes gave debutant Robbie Nash the space to score his first try for the club.
It was now 12-10 to the home side but unfortunately on the stroke of half time Walsall one more took the lead with yet another successful penalty kick.It was expected that Dronfield would became the dominant team in the second half with the slope in their favour but this was not to be . They were guilty of being too casual at times and also continued to be punished for indiscretions.
Two more penalty kicks from Walsall now gave them a 16-12 lead. Dronfield had opportunities to get back into the lead but on more than one occasion the final pass that would lead to a score was deemed forward.
Finally Ollie Barker's powerful run into Walsall's 22 led to Reika Mahmed scoring out wide . With 15 minutes remaining it was now Dronfield who led 17-16. Dronfield's pressed the self destruct button once more and were penalised yet again . The confident Walsall kicker gave them the lead once more.
There was still time for Dronfield to score to maintain their proud home record but were unable to gain possession from a vital scrum under Walsall's posts and their opportunity evaporated It summed up Dronfield's day when in the final minute a Dronfield clearance from defence gave possession to Walsall and even though it appeared they had a man offside they scored a converted try to win 26-17.
To the neutral it had been a very entertaining game but Dronfield will rue missed opportunities and ill discipline at times leading to conceding far too many penaltiesTheir performance was not up to their usually high standards and they will hope to get back on track next Saturday when they travel to Nottingham to play Mellish in the last match of 2024. The only pleasing occurance today was that League leaders Litchfield also lost leaving at least four teams vying for top spot. Dronfield will be pleased to be back in their red shirts next week !! .
