Nantwich Town 1
Curzon Ashton 1
League (NW Counties League Div 1)

Match Report

Nantwich got back on track after their dismal display at Squires Gate with a gutsy performance against a slick Curzon side.
Substitute Ashley Lawton snatched a deserved point for the Dabbers with a goal two minutes from time and it was a just reward for the side’s hard endeavour.
Jon Dawson had gone close to giving Nantwich the lead on the quarter hour but his dipping volley just cleared the bar. But it was the visitors who took the lead on 22 minutes and there was a fair measure of fortune to it. Stuart Heeps, making his first appearance of the season, did well to get down and block Josh Mitten’s shot after the ball ricocheted to the Curzon striker in the area but the ball then bounced neatly into the path of Nick Fisher who had the easy task of stroking it into an unguarded goal.
Heeps did well to spread himself to block Nigel Evans’ strike just two minutes later as Curzon threatened to get a hold on the game. But Nantwich bounced back as Melford Knight’s diving header rattled the bar and Dave Thomasson forged forward before unleasing a long range strike.
After the interval, the Dabbers had the better of exchanges and, in quick succession, Dawson, Danny Griggs and Lawton had shots which were all directed straight at David Fish in the visitors’ goal. Heeps pushed out an effort from Matthew Edgington before Adam Vickers fired a cleanly struck piledriver which left the goalframe shaking.
Then came Nantwich’s late show. A free kick was awarded just outside the Curzon penalty area and Wes Wilkinson curled the kick round the wall. Fish seemed to have it covered but the ball slipped from his grasp and Lawton, following-up, was on hand to slide it home.
Nantwich Heeps, Thomasson, Maguire (Parkinson,85), Hall, Jardine, Vickers, Griggs, Knight, Dawson (Rowland,75), Tainton (Lawton,62), Wilkinson.
Curzon Fish, Ball (Whelan, h-t), Birch, Watson, Kay, Wearden, Williams, Evans, Mitten (Edgington,75), Fisher, Dean. Booked: Watson (35mins).

Match report written by Michael Chatwin