On Saturday we travelled to the H E Barnes Stadium to face Dronfield Town Reserves in the hopes of carrying on the momentum and getting another crucial league win. The Badgers could increase their Winning Streak to 7 with a win against Dronfield. New signing Kallum Nix started in the place of the injured Brandon Kane and Dean Conway returned to the starting 11.
Both teams were met immediately by the howling winds and this had some effect on the game when both sides were trying to play over the top, Retford adapted and played on the ground when they were able too. Liam’s men were in cruise control, playing so fluently in the drastic conditions. Nix showed his class when in the third minute he played a looping ball over the defence. Conway timed his run to perfection but skied his shot from just yards away. Dean made up for this only minutes later, when the ball dropped out of the sky and from 25 yards away he hit it first time, the ball flew straight into the left side of the net and past the opposition keeper. Certainly a goal of the season contender. The Badger’s second came on the 18th minute when Nix darted through the centre of midfield and played West through on the right. Mark did extremely well to shrug off two defenders and find Conway in the centre, who with ease tapped it in.
After the Badger’s second, Dronfield fancied their chances at getting one back and they nearly did so when the wide player swung in a lovely ball to the back post where the Dronfield attacker just couldn’t keep down his header. Mlynarski was having a field day on the far side, with the full back not being able to match him for pace. On the 27th minute West beat the whole defence with one pass, because it left Igor one and one with the keeper. One defender tried to recover but there was no chance of him keeping up. Unfortunately Mlynarski put his shot just wide of the right post. 4 minutes later Igor was given a golden chance to make up for his earlier effort and he took it. The ball dropped at his feet from the corner so he just hit it first time, the ball took a few deflections but found its way into the net.
The Badgers full backs caused a lot of danger for Dronfield, like they have against many other teams by pushing further up the field. Lawrence had another solid performance and Walters is developing into a very good full back after playing as a centre mid for the years prior. Retford increased their lead to 4 on the 38th minute when Adam Daughtrey precisely lifted the ball over the Dronfield keeper who had rushed off of his line into no man’s land. Just before half time Conway completed his Hat-trick when once again West used his physicality to hold up the defender and wait for Conway to overlap. He played the ball through to and Dean who collected it and ran towards goal. Conway took it round the keeper and hit it home. With the lead Retford had at Half Time, Liam decided to make some changes, giving rest to some of the players. Casburn and Smith came on to start the Second Half replacing West and Lawrence and Gashi was brought on for Mlynarski not long into the Second Half.
Dronfield came out a lot better side giving the Retford defence a lot to do. However they held up well with great work from Brook and Swales, the two of them are becoming quite a formidable duo, which a lot of teams are struggling to do anything against. The pace of Casburn signalled trouble for the already tired Dronfield defence and this was evident when Retford got their sixth. Zach was too quick for the Dronfield player and also the keeper who rushed off his line once again. Zach swerved the keepers challenge and passed the ball into the net. This ended the hopes of Dronfield after a good opening to the second half. The Badgers scored again four minutes later after a bit of class from Jack Walters. The Dronfield defence was not expecting Walters to cut inside and that is exactly what he did. He then very unselfishly laid it off for Dean to smash it goal wards. The ball flew straight in and confirmed Retford’s seventh and Conway’s fourth.
Casburn got Retford’s eighth and final goal on the 88th minute after taking it round the keeper once again. The referee blew the whistle not long after this meaning that the Badgers had extended their winning streak to seven in quite a fashion. Liam awarded Man of the Match to Adam Daughtrey for a very good performance on the right hand side and also a very well taken goal. The Badgers return to Cannon Park to face Collingham this Saturday, up the Badgers!