Droylsden F.C.-The bloods on the net!

GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY 4 – 2 DROYLSDEN

Blue Square North – Saturday 15th August 2009

Report by Gary Owen

This was a day where Droylsden were simply not at the races, and there can be few complaints about the result.

Things might have been different had Tony Gray converted the game's best chance on 20 minutes, which he'd fashioned for himself from Liam Brownhill's pass, but his shot from 14 yards was placed at a nice height for Philip Barnes, who turned the ball away with a smart save to his right.

However, before that it was one way traffic the other way, with confusion between Colin Cryan and Craig Mawson almost presenting an opportunity for Glyn Hurst, and then Lewis McMahon curled an effort just wide of the upright.

Moments later, Luke Beckett failed to steer his header away from Mawson from Darren Dunning's cross as Droylsden continued with their backs to the wall.

The Bloods' day began to deteriorate after 25 minutes, when Cryan clearly hauled back Hurst in the box to earn himself the first of two yellow cards, and a penalty for the hosts. McMahon planted the ball to Mawson's right, with The Bloods' stopper guessing correctly, but being beaten by power.

Just before the half-hour mark, home skipper Nathan Peat had the audacity to attempt to catch Mawson off his line from just inside the Droylsden half, and with Mawson beaten, the ball flew just inches wide of the post!

Gray again had a chance, this time with a flashing header from Steve Beck's cross, but it strayed two yards wide.

Disaster came on 34 minutes, when Cryan was adjudged to have impeded Luke Beckett in the box to signal his early bath, and the McMahon v Mawson show produced a repeat performance.

Two goals and one man down was a position from which Droylsden never recovered. They did enjoy some good spells of possession in the second half, but, just as with 11 men, they lacked any cutting edge up front.

Hurst headed wide from Jason Picton's deep cross for Trinity, and one of the few Droylsden players who impressed, Carl Ruffer, then hooked a shot wide of the post from a Brownhill corner.

Beckett headed wide from an Ashley Burbeary corner, before Dave Pace took the gamble to go three at the back by exchanging Lee Woodyatt for debut striker, Shaun Whalley.

Unfortunately, the gamble back-fired almost immediately, as three minutes later a raking pass from Burbeary found The Bloods defence gone AWOL, and the ball fell invitingly for Hurst, who lofted it over the stranded Mawson to make it 3-0.

Droylsden entered the final 10 minutes with Alex Meechan limping, and so in effect were playing with 9 men.

Ex-Blood Burbeary took advantage, but shot wastefully high when well placed.

With three minutes remaining, Rob Lloyd beat Barnes with a left-footed strike from the edge of the box for what appeared to be a consolation.

However, in typical Droylsden fashion, The Bloods somehow managed to score again in added time when a re-taken Shaun Whalley free kick found its way to Gray at the far post, who this time swivelled to make no mistake.

Could the inevitable happen? No – from the re-start, Trinity notched their fourth with the last kick of the game, when Beckett converted past Mawson.

Unusually, Dave Pace has started the opening three games of this season with the same 11 players – many expect that to change on Monday evening with the visit of Northwich Victoria.

TEAMS

Droylsden:

Mawson, Woodyatt (Whalley, 65'), Brownhill, Ruffer, Cryan, Williams (Lloyd, 57') Beck, Brown A., Gray, Yeo (Byron 37'), Meechan.

Subs not used: Brown P., Howarth

Gainsborough:

Barnes, Picton, Greaves (Moses, 70'), Peat, Parker, Davies, Burbeary, Dunning, Beckett, McMahon (Mallon, 83'), Hurst (Hunt, 69').

Subs not used: Toulson, Herriott.

REFEREE: Mr. Dave Plowright (Mansfield)

ATTENDANCE: 300