HALLAM BOOK PLAY OFF SPOT THANKS TO BLYTHEN HAT TRICK

HALLAM 4 DRONFIELD TOWN 1
NCEFL 1 @ STONELOW RD DRONFIELD [FIXTURE REVERSE]
21 APRIL 2016 7.45PM

BLYTHEN CELEBRATES THE FIRST OF HIS HAT TRICK

The pace of Michael Blythen and his resulting hat trick helped secure Hallam a comfortable victory in the end with the much desired play off spot secured for the Sandygate club.
After covering Dronfield Town a couple of times over the last few weeks a journey tonight to Stonelow Rd was excused by the fact that this was actually a home game for Hallam who had secured a fixture reversal due to the cricket club requiring Sandygate.  Thankfully the weather has relented and Stonelow Rd has become playable and with this fixture added to the backlog we could have been in a mess if we had received further rain.

 
The proceedings were confusing to the ageing blogger after watching Dronfield play in their away yellow kit over the last couple of visits tonight they were technically the away team but played in their home kit, red, and Hallam played in their away kit of.....yellow.  Interestingly programmes were produced by Dronfield who also occupied the home dug outs too.  There was a good gathering tonight with a fair few hoppers adding to the healthy crowd of 118, bizarrely the same number winning raffle ticket number, who enjoyed a first half in mild weather before the chill hit big time in the second half.
As ever the blog visited the fish and chip shop department but I have made a decision not to show the delicacy again.

MR P AND CHIPS

Instead here are a few pictures of other people, Mr W and Mr P, enjoying CHIPS at the ground.

MR W AND CHIPS

As ever it was good to catch up with the officials at Dronfield, fellow hoppers and Mr Matt Walsh Alfreton Town FC, among others, and now assessing after a period of refereeing that took him to the Conference.

DRONFIELD TOWN SUGGEST A SHOCK FORMATION TO HALLAM MANAGER HINDLEY

To the game and Hallam were out of the traps like a champion greyhound and the pace of Blythen was proving a test the home side would have to be on their guard to defend for the whole of the 90 minutes if they were to get anything from this game.  Dronfield suffered a break in their defensive wall after 7 minutes when Blythen broke through and slotted past the out coming Stephen Booth in the home goal.  A few moments later Blythen nearly added to his tally but his shot was cleared off the line by Sam Fisher before Janna Lipka fired the follow up over the bar.

WARM UPS FOR HALLAM FC

Dronfield were gradually getting a feel for the game and on 15 minutes produced the goal of the game a Jamie Vardy style effort.  A long clearance from Booth assisted Lee Anthony who from 25 yards out lashed the ball first time over the visiting keeper Dave Darwent for a wonderful strike.
Just as the game looked to be heading towards a 1-1 half time score line it was Hallam who scored from what looked like a poor corner off the left low and flat delivered by Elliott Simpson the shock came when Jed Phillips short of the near post produced and excellent sharp deflective finish.
The second half began with the question mark of could Dronfield contain Hallam and strike on the break and indeed on 59 minutes they nearly did when keeper Darwent pulled off an excellent save from Callum Mawbey.
It was now time for Hallam to press on and the speed of Blythen was becoming  more difficult for a tiring home side to cope with on 64 minutes he powered through more or less unchallenged and found an excellent left foot finish from just inside the box.  The impressive Hallam front man completed his hat trick four minutes later when he strode through the Dronfield defence rounding keeper Booth and slotting home to make it 4-1.
Just short of full time Blythen could have got his fourth but this time the post came to the saviour of the home side.
The final whistle saw happy scenes for the Hallam supporters and as the players respectfully thanked the referee and opposition they made their way to the changing rooms were their joyful celebrations began at reaching the play offs.  Good news for the club, team and its quality manager Ryan Hindley I well remember seeing Hallam losing their premier status a few years ago at Arnold Town and hopefully the club have a good play off campaign, if they play like they are capable they may well take some stopping.

BIZZARE