Nantwich Town 1
Salford City 0
League (NW Counties League Div 1)

Match Report

Date: Saturday 28th October.2006.

Teams: NANTWICH TOWN 1 v Salford City 0
Bott. 84.
Attendance 232

NANTWICH TOWN: Rob Hackney. Murray McCulloch. Paul Taylor. Richard Smith © Mark Fitton. Stuart Scheuber. Adam Beasley. Jake Bowyer. Andy Bott. Matt Blake. Michalis Chailis. Substitutes: Mathew Platt. Danny McVey. Adam Soane.

Nantwich were without seven of their first team players for this top match of the day in the first division in which `The Dabbers` lay 3rd,a point behind their 2nd placed visitors Salford City, who recently became the first side this season to defeat early leaders FC United.The home side gave a debut to Michalis Chailis,a 23 year old left winger, who arrived in South Cheshire during the summer, having been a professional with Cypriot club FC Limassol.Head Coach Steve Davis made a further addition to the squad last week with the signing of 20 year old midfielder Jake Bowyer, who arrives from Midland Alliance club Biddulph Victoria.Meanwhile,the home side welcomed the return of Danny McVey to the squad for the first time in 3 seasons.

The early minutes of the game were dominated by Salford who attacked from the left giving chances to first McNally,followed by Burke and then Turner,who all tested Rob Hackney from around 20 yards distance.Approaching the 10 minute mark Nantwich reversed the flow of the game and won a free kick after D’Agrosso brought down Chailis just as he was in full flight down the visitors right.Taylor elected to take the free kick, which initially looked promising but,despite bending neatly over the wall, the ball fell straight into the arms of visiting ‘keeper Barry George at the far post.But,from the clearance,Salford resumed in attack mode,stretching the home side on their left, for which Taylor did well to halt the progress of Watson, who delivered a crossfield ball aimed for Turner, the Nantwich left back confidently nodding the ball back to Hackney.Meanwhile,the pace of Chailis won a corner for the home side with the Cypriot electing to take the flag kick, which was well delivered from the left,the neat take initially falling to Bott but, it was Beasley who was presented with a superb chance to score from a mere 5 yards but,the ball struck the near post, close to the angle of post and bar, and then to safety.Not to be outdone,back came Nantwich, with Chailis making it to the left of the byline before cutting the ball back,just 10 yards from the left post, only for the ‘keeper to come out and collect, just as Beasley was preparing to strike the ball home.On the quarter hour, Bowyer displayed his skill when he intercepted the ball in midfield before switching direction in an attempt to send Chailis away once more but,the ball was cut out by Whitehead before it could reach the promising looking left winger.McCulloch followed shortly after with a neat inside pass to Chailis but,despite holding the ball up before laying on a close range strike,George was off his line quickly to smother the ball.Nantwich endured a couple of scares in the 20th minute when, first Salford midfielder McNally fired into the arms of Hackney from 20 yards, followed by Taylor,who was slow to clear after the visitors had just entered a purple patch,Smith finally clearing the danger to save `The Dabbers` blushes.Pressing the ball with firm intent,Salford forced the home side to defend deep,so deep that even their strikers were forced to join the barricades during which Blake conceded a 23rd minute corner.Burke took the left sided flag kick, finding Turner, who rose amongst a body of players, only to head the ball well wide from 12 yards out.The temperature in the Nantwich 18 yard box finally plummeted to a more acceptable level, and they switched play on the half hour mark that allowing central defender Fitton bring the ball up to the halfway line before playing in Scheuber but,the midfielder dragged his 20 yard shot wide.Meantime, Fitton returned to his central defenders role, and did well on 35 minutes when he blocked a firm strike courtesy of McNally who had advanced deep on the right.Three minutes later, Hackney was close to gifting the lively McNally an opportunity to score when he produced a poor clearance before Smith nipped in to close the ball down and avert the danger.
Half time: NANTWICH TOWN 0 v Salford City 0

The second period resumed with Salford again pressing the ball, and on 51 minutes winger Begley took a left sided free kick that beat the wall but,the ball ended up wide of the far post.At the other end Blake’s right sided centre from deep was blasted away by a central defender with Bott hovering close by.Moments later,and with the game now switched back to the Nantwich area,McCulloch saved the day for his side when the right back cleared off the line followed shortly after by Hackney who produced a brilliant one handed save to prevent substitute striker Eckerley from scoring with a fiercely driven 30 yard screamer.The intensity of the game showed for a short period on the unfamiliar Nantwich line-up but,they drew second wind before winning a corner on the right that was well delivered by Chailis.What followed was almost agony,because for the second time in the match,Beasley drove against the left upright after finding himself unmarked.A quarter of an hour from normal time Turner shot wide from the edge of the area followed closely afterwards by yet another Hackney match saver after Burke delivered a testing shot from inside the area.Nantwich,by now,really were under the cosh,and for what seemed an eternity,conceded virtually all their territory to Salford.But,for all their determination and openings Salford failed at every opportuntity,in the main from wayward finishing, and a late example was from Whitehead, who should have scored had he taken a little time to steady the ball before striking.Instead,he chose an attempt to remove the net from the goalposts with an inglorious shot that blazed almost vertical from a mere 15 yards out.Chailis was then lost to injury in the 80th minute with Mathew Platt replacing the hard working,and impressive Cypriot, whose match fitness is currently a little way short.Fitton and McCulloch then combined well to deny Turner just before before Nantwich set up a raid down the visitors left that produced the match winner.McCulloch was instrumental in the attack,the Nantwich right back bringing the ball out from deep over the halfway line before playing in the already overlapping Blake who produced a fierce angled drive from just inside the area that Salford ‘keeper George was forced to parry.On this occasion there was no defensive saviour to assist the Salford No.1 and there,standing unmarked to the ‘keepers left, was Andy Bott to drive the ball home from 15 yards, and his 10th goal of the season.Salford heads almost touched the turf in disbelief but,to their credit, they reasserted themselves to place the home side under further pressure.That pressure gave Turner the opportunity to score from close range but,to the relief of Nantwich, an eagle eyed assistant referee judged the effort offside.Five minutes from normal time Nantwich were forced to replace Scheuber after the midfielder turned over on his right ankle to add further to his side’s injury woes.The onslaught from Salford continued but,the shooting from their forwards in particular, was for the most part,dreadful.Finally,the whistle of Mr S.J Martin echoed around the Jackson Avenue stadium to the great relief of the home side but,to the visitors,it was sheer agony.

After the game, a clearly delighted but,much relieved Steve Davis quoted: “ They were 3 massive points to collect in a fiercely contested game.Credit to our players, they carried out their pre match instructions almost to the letter.Director of football Clive Jackson watched Salford on the previous weekend, and whilst we knew there strength’s and weaknesses,he left us in no doubt that we were in for a difficult time,particularly given the fact we had so many key players on the injured list.The game was like a replay of the first leg semi final of the FA Vase against Cammell Laird when Blakey scored the only goal of the game.He came very close in this one but,his effort was far from wasted, and allowed Andy Bott to secure the match winner.I was pleased with the new signings and what a game in which for them to make their debut.They don’t come much tougher than that!

Note: Witnessed at Jackson Avenue during the game: Rodney Jack, who arrived with a contingent of friends and watched the whole of the game.

Match report written by Phil Johnson