Nantwich Town 2
Congleton Town 2
League (NW Counties League Div 1)

Match Report

Here's the Nantwich squad that took on the Bears:
BACK ROW: Vernum Rowland, James Hutchin, Martin Packham, Jon Dawson, Adam Vickers, Stuart Heeps, Dale Melling, Mark Gardiner, Ashey Lawton, Danny Huff, Melford Knight, Dave Thomasson, Ivan Robinson (Physio).
FRONT ROW: Wes Wilkinson, Lyndon Hall, Garth Brookes, Nigel Gleghorn (Player-Manager), Ant Buckle, Simon Hackney, Chris Hampshire.

REPORT: Prolific marksman Wes Wilkinson scored in his sixth consecutive game to earn the Dabbers a well deserved point in this cut and thrust derby game. Wilkinson’s equaliser, his nineteenth goal of the campaign, came fifteen minutes from time and ensured Nantwich continued their unbeaten league run into 2003.
Somehow, you had that Friday feeling that this match would end all square with Nantwich having drawn six out of their previous 11 home league games. After dominating early play, Gareth Brookes could have nicked Nantwich the lead but, on 16 minutes, the visitors went ahead against the run of play. Danny Worthington’s cross found Michael Scully who escaped the attention of Mark Gardiner to head home from 10 yards. Four minutes later, though, the scores were level. The referee pointed to the penalty spot for Gary Burke’s clumsy challenge on Wes Wilkinson and Martin Packham fired the spot-kick to Matthew Conkie’s left to make it
1-1.
For the rest of the half, the Bears had the upper hand. Ben Kay rattled the home crossbar and Gardiner cleared off the line from Worthington and Gary Bickerstaffe in quick succession. At the other end, a fingertip save by Conkie denied a crisp Brookes volley but Congleton re-gained the initiative five minutes before the break.
A neat header from John Paul Jones set up Scully and he drove the ball under the advancing Heeps for his second goal of the game.
Straight after the interval, Gardiner made his third goalline clearance but the home side gradually took command. Player-boss Nigel Gleghorn slipped the ball to Wilkinson but this time it was Bickerstaffe who was called on to clear off the visitors’ goalline. An injury to Stuart Heeps saw Gleghorn take over the goalkeeping gloves with half an hour remaining but Congleton were unable to severely test him. Instead, the Dabbers continued to exert pressure and they drew level when Wilkinson ran on to a through ball and rifled into the net from just inside the area.
In a well contested match with lots of end-to-end action, a draw was a fair assessment, but, unusually for a derby game, not one players’ name ended up in the referee’s notebook. This will also help the Dabbers in the Fair Play League where they currently stand fifth not having had a single player sent off this season.
It is now eight league games since Nantwich tasted defeat and they look set for their best final league placing for a decade having cemented a spot in the top eight.
Nantwich Heeps (Lawton, 63), Hall, Gardiner, Packham, Gleghorn, Vickers, Brookes, Melling (Knight, 70), Hampshire, Wilkinson, Hackney.
Congleton Conkie, Jones (Park, 66), Barker, Burke, Reilly, Kay, Bickerstaffe, Pitts, Worthington, Scully, Jones.
Star Man: Dale Melling A mature performance combining tough-tackling and creative vision

Match report written by Michael Chatwin