A fine away win for Swallownest, as they came from behind....

The lads know how unhappy I was with today’s performance ….

A fine away win for Swallownest, tenth in Toolstation NCEL Division One, as they came from behind to beat eighth–placed Dronfield Town 2-1 at the HE Barnes Stadium yesterday afternoon. This had been the Bootiful Game’s feature fixture in the week leading up to the clash, and when the floodlights faded at Stonelow Road, the visitors had provided the perfect birthday present for Manager, Jordan Stocks and left Town Manager, Chris Millington his usual philosophical and honest self, writes Colin Muncie.
Michael Fereday put the hosts ahead just after the half hour to give Dronfield the half-time advantage in front of a decent crowd of 98 on a bitterly cold afternoon. Alex Lill levelled for Swallownest after 56 minutes and Ollie Grady pounced to seize all three points with the winner with just five minutes left.
Swallownest’s Assistant Manager, Joel Evans was thrilled with the win, but didn’t hide his admiration for the home club. “Today the lads deserve all the credit and plaudits,” he told TBG. “From the first to the ninetieth minute they dug in, picked up seconds, wanted the ball and didn't shy away. It's a great reaction after last week’s performance – and that’s what Jordan and I wanted. The standards have been set again this week and now the lads must maintain them.”
“The game showed two very good teams and, on their day, both can beat anyone,” Joel acknowledged. “Dronfield have excellent foundations; the pitch is unbelievable at this time of the year, but most of all they have the right people in charge. Milly (Chris Millington) and (Nick) Siddons are first class professionals, who do things the right way and you can definitely tell that's why Dronfield are doing so well.”
It's been a good week on and off the pitch for us, with the coverage from yourselves and a few chomps from local rivals. It couldn't be better.”
The winning goal-scorer, Ollie Grady, enjoyed his afternoon. “A great win today for us and I’m buzzing to get the winner,” Ollie admitted. “I felt that we were brilliant today, so hopefully we can push on now and get a winning run behind us. Credit to the lads - they were outstanding.”

Swallownest striker Alex Lill scored the second half equaliser. “A great team performance today from everyone in the squad,” Alex told TBG. “From the minute we turned up at the ground we all had our heads on, and it showed in the performance. We dominated the game; an early mistake led to their goal, but as I’ve said before, mistakes end up as goals at this level. So, we regrouped at half time, and in the second-half there was only going to be one outcome; we pressed and pressed and the chances came.”

Of his own contribution, Alex told us, “It’s always nice to score a decent goal; it just makes it feel even better and that goal definitely changed the game. We were creating chance after chance, and then Ollie “Bagsman” Grady came up with the goods, following up after the ‘keeper made a great save from my shot.”

“On to next week now – UTS”

Across the technical area, and as you might expect, Dronfield’s Chris Millington put the loss into wider context. “We got what we deserved today in a game where we didn’t really lay a glove on Swallownest,” he admitted. “They were full value for the win and made it a long afternoon for us. We weren’t at the races and lacked desire from the first minute to the last.”

“It’s not a panic but it’s another two good performances followed by a not so good one which is frustrating - but it’s an improvement on last year and that’s positive,” Chris reminded us. “The lads know how unhappy I was with today’s performance and I hope, like me, they will be thinking about how they can improve ahead of a really tough game against Nostell next week.”

The Bootiful Game would like to thank everyone at Dronfield Town and Swallownest for their kind support in the days leading up to yesterday’s game.