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Following a frustrating first half, which saw The Shots fail to find any response to the guile and effort shown by their visitors, the swashbuckling and energetic strikers display after the break, which saw him brought on from the bench in the place of Rob Elvins, must surely have gone a long way to proving he is worthy of a start in Friday's trip to Histon.
Dixon's presence on the bench for Saturday's team sheet stunned most of the crowd, with new boy Rob Elvins given the nod to partner John Grant yet again, but anyone questioning Gary Waddock's selection should have known better - as the Elvins produced one of his best displays in a Shots shirt to date and as he begins to grow in confidence with the more opportunities he gains, it won't be long until he gets the goal that his performances deserve.
For all his good work in the first half however, there was certainly no chance that the North Hampshire side were going to make a break through in the poor conditions, as Droylsden proved impossible to break down.
As expected, The Bloods were full of energy and steel and it took just six minutes for them to create their first serious chance of the match when the impressive Steve Daly found himself clean through in a one-on-one with Nikki Bull in front of the East Bank. With The Shots defence caught on the wrong foot, in what proved to be the first of many times in the first half, it was left to the advancing Shots keeper to save Shots blushes and he quickly threw himself at the feet of the tricky forward, smothering the ball and preventing him from having the time to get a shot at the target.
Three minutes later, as the visitors passed the ball around with ease and The Shots were still trying to settle into the game, Scott Davies cut out a pass and showed great awareness when he threaded a lovely through ball towards the centre circle to an unmarked John Grant. With only air between him and the opposite goal, he trod on the ball which allowed four Droylsden players enough time to bear down on him, but with the opportunity seemingly gone, The Shots striker evaded all of them and raced towards the oppositions penalty area before releasing a tired looking effort that was easily gathered by Paul Phillips.
Although Ben Harding and Rob Gier were linking up well, it was Droylsden's Terry Fearns, Steve Daly and Chris Denham continued to apply pressure throughout the first half cutting through The Shots defence with ease time and time again, but despite all of their efforts it wasn't until the twenty-fifth minute that they finally got the goal they deserved.
From outside the Aldershot penalty area, Denham struck a high ball over The Shots defence towards Fearns who had found acres of space around the Shots penalty spot and although Nikki Bull raced out in an attempt to get to the ball, Fearns connected first and struck a fantastic looping volley over the Shots keeper which sailed under the crossbar and into the back of the unguarded net.
The pressure continued on Waddock's men and on thirty-six minutes, Steve Daly had a chance to run at goal but saw his path blocked by Bull. Unselfishly he lay the ball off to Denham to his left and when he picked up the ball up on the edge of the Shots penalty area, jinxed passed two Aldershot defenders with ease before crossing it back towards Daly who was now in space inside the penalty area but he saw his resulting shot sail inches over the crossbar.
It was another warning sign for The Shots but as the rain came down harder, there was no sign of panic in their ranks and even though the tireless work ethic from the visitors won through, it started to become apparent that their players were going to tire quicker as the game went on.
Having weathered the first half storm Waddock made the decision that unarguably changed the game. Rob Elvins and Louie Soares made way for Jonny Dixon and Kirk Hudson and straight from the off, The Shots began to compete and although Droylsden continued to impress, the equaliser finally came on fifty-eight minutes when pressure from the re-vitalised Aldershot attack saw a Jonny Dixon pass finding John Grant unmarked in the penalty area. With the ball sailing towards him, he unleashed a great volley towards the visitors net that left Phillips stranded in his six-yard box.
From then on the game could have gone either way and sensing this, Droylsden manager Dave Pace decided to inject some fresh legs to the field in a bid to revive his quickly tiring side. The impressive Fearns made way for Jody Banim who appeared to be carrying too much weight and Blake Norton came on for Jamie Tandy, but it was to little avail.
The Shots continued to press on and when Banim began to spend more time arguing with the lines-mans decisions rather than concentrating on his own failings, it didn't take long for The Shots to take the lead. On sixty-seven minutes, with the wind and rain getting stronger, Jonny Dixon crossed a perfect ball into the visitors penalty area which picked out Lewis Chalmers who was stood around the penalty spot and he calmly lifted the ball into the back of the Bloods net as Phillips tried to throw himself at the ball to smother his effort.
If Droylsden felt hard done by with the Shots second, there would have been relief that a penalty claim was waved away shortly after. Grant was about to begin one of his trademark runs and after picking the ball up just inside the penalty area when he was pulled to the floor by Mark Hottie who was obviously finding the Shots striker too much to handle but with the referee waving away all claims, it was the visitors who were beginning to finally feel the heat.
Jonny Dixon continued to cause havoc along the flanks as well as in and around the penalty area and Droylsden would have been expecting the third when it arrived on eighty-two minutes. John Grant ran towards the edge of the penalty area and after doing a step over, he released the ball to Ben Harding who slotted home with ease to seal the three points with another volley.
Speaking to BBC Southern Counties Radio after the performance, Waddock said "After going a goal down today the lads got a little bit nervous but we got it right in the second half and at the end of the day I think we deserved to win the game."
ATFC: Bull, Gier, Straker, Day, Charles (Winfield), Soares (Dixon), Davies, Chalmers, Elvins (Hudson), Grant, Harding.
Subs not used: Jaimez-Ruiz, Hylton.
DFC: Phillips, Hottie, Robinson, Cryan, Marsh-Evans, Tandy (Norton), Murphy (Lynch), McGuire, Daly, Fearns (Banim), Denham.
Subs not used: Senior, Robin Gibson.
Goals
ATFC: Grant 58, Chalmers 67, Harding 82.
DFC: Fearns 25.
Booked
ATFC: Gier, Grant.
DFC: Robinson, Norton.
Att.: 1,773.