Carlton Town 1
Nantwich Town 5
League (NPL Division 1 South)

Match Report

UniBond League First Division South

Saturday 8th December.2007.

Carlton Town 1 v NANTWICH TOWN 5
Aidan Brady.44 - Kinsey.23, Parkinson.48, Suhaj.51.84, Blackhurst.71
Referee. Mr T.Hollidge
Attendance.80.

Carlton Town: Steve Brearley. Dominic Thomas. Dominic Jones. Grant Brindley. Michael Martin ©. Marquin Smith. Fabian Smith. Martin Ball. Philip Bignall. Darryl Thomas. Aidan Brady. Substitutes: Terry Hawkridge. Paolo Piliero. Steve Chaplin.

NANTWICH TOWN: Lee Jones. Paul Donnelly. Gyorgy Kiss (Beasley 46). Richard Smith. Charlie O’Loughlin. Phil Parkinson. Ashley Carter (Dicker 73). Glyn Blackhurst. Andy Kinsey (Ward 72). Pavol Suhaj. Paul Taylor. Substitutes: Adam Beasley. Kevin Ward. Ryan Dicker.

Nantwich included striker Kevin Ward in their squad for the trip to Carlton Town, having signed the Leicestershire based player from Spalding United 36 hours ahead of kick off.

Despite recent heavy rain, the Carlton playing surface was in good condition, albeit greasy on top but, still provided for an excellent game of football despite dismal conditions made worse by very poor light.

Carlton were first to show, taking the game to Nantwich from the whistle and, the pace of striker Darryl Thomas in particular had to be checked with frequency.

Nantwich went ahead through Andy Kinsey in the 23rd minute during a period when the visitors were pressing both the middle and defence of the home side. Ahead of the goal,‘The Dabbers’ had begun to puncture an otherwise agile home side with pace of their own and when a ball into the box was only partially cleared, Kinsey latched on to the end of it before firing a sweet 20 yard volley past Brearley into the back of the net.

In a game that rarely lost it’s tempo, play swung from one half to the other but, there were signs just before the break that Carlton were about to profit from a period of slow reaction down the Nantwich right side. And profit they did, when Carlton winger Aidan Brady powered in from deep to produce an uninterrupted run toward the edge of the 6 yard box before squeezing the ball between ‘keeper Lee Jones and the near post to level the score.

Whatever communication passed between the Nantwich head coach, his assistant and the players at half time, it certainly had the desired effect because in the second period, Nantwich by and large, ruled.

Nantwich lost left back Gyorgy Kiss to injury before resumption of the second half after the plucky Hungarian complained of a tightening related to a recent hamstring problem. To accommodate the problem, Paul Taylor dropped from the left of midfield to left back whilst Adam Beasley took up the left midfield role.

Pre match intelligence had proved correct, the forward play from Carlton was good but, their defence was suspect. Within 3 minutes of the restart Phil Parkinson put Nantwich back into the lead with a well taken but, otherwise rare goal after the initial speed and skill of Ashley Carter turned the Carlton defence inside out before laying into the path of the Nantwich skipper who finished with aplomb from 12 yards.

Credit to Carlton, they continued to pressure Nantwich but, the centre half pairing of Richard Smith and Charlie O’Loughlin dealt efficiently, in particular with the intermittent threat from Carlton strikers Bignall and Thomas.

But, the further the second half progressed, the greater stranglehold Nantwich exercised over their hosts. Carter was again involved in the build up to ‘The Dabbers’ third goal when he turned Carlton left back Dominic Jones inside out before laying into the path of Pavol Suhaj, who made no mistake from 10yards.

Adam Beasley and Glyn Blackhurst frustratingly wasted close range chances around the 70th minute at a time when Carlton had little answer to Nantwich prowess. However, Blackhurst came good on 71 minutes when not for the first time, good work by Ashley Carter eventually led to Blackhurst fending off his marker before tucking the ball into the net past the now despairing Brearley.

Nantwich replaced Andy Kinsey on 72 minutes, the Nantwich striker suffering from a knee injury picked up during Thursday’s training session allowing new signing Kevin Ward to partner Suhaj in attack, whilst Ashley Carter made way for Ryan Dicker a minute later as Nantwich moved personnel around to ensure they had legs in areas that mattered to counteract the threat of the unrelenting energy of the Carlton strikers and wingers.

Suhaj wrapped up a glorious afternoon for Nantwich when Paul Donnelly’s 84th minute free kick from the left edge of the box fell neatly into the Carlton 6 yard box allowing the Slovakian to obtain advantage of some woeful defending to drill the ball past the now thoroughly fed up Carlton custodian Brearley.

Head coach Steve Davis was satisfied with a good afternoon’s work but, said: “Our homework was spot on, Carlton were good going forward but, defensively poor. However, I felt we weren’t as effective in the first half as we should have been and despite the team talk accompanied by the warnings of their ability to switch the ball around with pace, allowed them to take advantage of slack marking a minute before the break”.

Winger Ashley Carter expressed similar feelings and said: “ We didn’t play too well in the first half but, a firm lecture at half time from Steve and Pete ensured we were different class in the second period and with a little bit more composure in front of goal we genuinely could have scored three further goals”.

The win moves Nantwich into the final play off position (5th) and with 8 goals for, against a single reply in their last two matches, the goal difference could prove to be a significant factor at seasons end, providing ‘The Dabbers’ maintain their form.