Squires Gate 2
Nantwich Town 2
League (NW Counties League Div 1)

Match Report

Squires Gate 2, Nantwich Town 2
Thursday 13 April 2006

Nantwich brought a point back from the seaside but will be disappointed that they didn’t catch all three on their visit to the Fylde coast.
An accident on the M6 meant that the team arrived late and the match didn’t kick off until 8.30pm. The lack of preparation seemed to catch out the Dabbers who fell behind on 16 minutes when Chris Cairnes played a neat one-two and fired past Rob Hackney from 12 yards out. It was the first time in 9 games that the Dabbers had conceded a first half goal.
Nantwich had plenty of chances to equalise and should have gone in at the break with clear water between them and their hosts. For once, though, the forwards looked to have forgotten their shooting boots.
Ten minutes after the re-start, left back Paul Taylor showed how it should be done when he crashed a 25 yard free-kick into the top of the net with Gate’s keeper stranded. There were more chances at either end and before Nantwich went 2-1 up ten minutes from time. Matt Blake picked up the ball wide on the left and cut inside before smashing home a 20 yard drive which the home keeper could only push into the roof of the net.
Nantwich seemed to be set for victory but all the hard work was undone five minutes later when Paul Donnelly inadvertently thundered a header from a decent cross from the right past an unsuspecting Hackney for a spectacular own goal.
Nantwich: Hackney, Davis (Donnelly,12), P.Taylor, Smith, Platt (A.Taylor,65), Parkinson, Beasley, Scheuber, Marrow (Kinsey,70), Blake, Griggs.

Match report written by Michael Chatwin