Dronfield Town 2-1 Westella & Willerby

Unless you have had your head in the sand for the past week or so you will have realised its the Semi Finals of the Champions (Cough cough) League this week. It has pretty much dominated all the press and if you believe all the hype then there was no other football worth watching. What a load of bull.

A quick scan of the fixtures revealed another semi final. That being the Northern Semi Final of the Baris Central Midland League cup between  Dronfield Town and Westella and Willerby. As was fitting of a match of that magnitude, it was played at a neutral venue; that of the Harworth Colliery a mere 10 minutes drive from Retford. The prize for the winners? A place in the final against the winners of the Southern Semi Final played at Alfreton Town's Impact arena. As always a kebab was eaten as pre match nourishment. I had been looking forward to a good kebab since the disappointing effort in Blackpool on Thursday night. Baz had been tipped of about a good place to eat just down the road from the ground.

The kebab was very reasonably priced at £4.50. For an extra £1.50 you could add a coke and a portion of chips. I didn't go for this option but Baz did take advantage. The kebab was nice but i asked for chilli and mayo but they forgot the chilli. Never mind i still ate most of the thing (and half of Baz's chips)

We drove up to the ground and sat in the car munching our fodder. There was a game taking place on the outside pitch so we watched some of that. Some extreme hoppers would class the 20 mins or so we watched as another game and another ground but i wouldn't go in for all that. We ambled over to the entrance to the ground 5 minutes before kick off and paid our £3 entrance fee and an extra £1 for the programme.

We stood behind the Westella dugout for the first half and it was interesting watching and listening to their management team at work. All too often we hear managers just shout and bellow at match officials with little or no instructions for their side. So it was very refreshing to hear a management team support and encourage their troops and give clear tactical advice.
Although for the first 20 minutes or so it looked as of that advice was falling on ears as Dronfield dominated the game and took the lead when the Westella keeper failed to hold a shot and an attacker tucked in the rebound. This seemed to be the wake up call Westella needed as they started to take the game to Dronfield and were much the better side up till halftime. They deservedly equalised and that is how it stayed till halftime.

We retreated to the clubhouse at halftime for a very welcome brew that only cost 50p. On the tv screen Bayern Munich were leading Real Madrid 1-0 in the 1st leg of the Champions League Semi Final. I am not sure if the crowd in Munich knew the score from our semi final but if not they should have.
Next to us sat a table of local refs putting the world to rights. We ambled out to watch the second half about 5 minutes late but we didnt miss anything.
Westella made all the running in the second half, they created, and missed, several very good chances to put this semi final to bed. After another chance went begging the Westella and Willerby gaffer tuned round shock his head and said to us
"You can see whats going to happen now lads 2-1 to Dronfield"
And so it proved.
In the last minute the ball was bobbling about maybe 10 yards outside of the Westella box. An on rushing Dronfield player then blasted it and it went like a missile right into the bottom corner. A quality strike that would have grace a much higher level of football. It was a goal good enough to win any game as the old cliche goes but it was very very harsh on Westella and Willerby.

Good luck in the final guys.

This was a quality game (for this level of football) Both sides tried to play passing football on a difficult surface. Both management teams were also a credit to the game and CML Northern division. For the record (If anybodys cares, Bayern Munich won 2-1)

Can Dronfield make an "Impact" at Alfreton in the final? boom boom!