Nantwich Town 4
North Ferriby United 0
League (NPL Premier Division)

Match Report

Saturday 28th February.2009


NANTWICH TOWN 4 vs NORTH FERRIBY UNITED 0
Michael Lennon. 5.
Dave Whittaker.16.56.
Dave MacPherson.83.

Nantwich: Jones. Beeston. Tickle. Tinson ©. O’Loughlin. Blackhurst (Hawthorne 81). Carter. Macpherson. Whittaker. Lennon (Walker 62). Griggs (Gibson 78). Substitutes: Smith. Walker. Hawthorne. Jack. Gibson.

North Ferriby: Wilson. Cooke (Fortune-West 65). Larvin. Chapman (Denton 76). Foot ©. Morley. Moore. Fry. Bird. Russell. Hunter. Substitutes: Fortune-West. Bloor. Foster. Denton. Wilberforce.

Referee: Mr M.S Perry(Birmingham) Attendance: 750.

MATCH REPORT

The match was only a minute old when Dave MacPherson edged forward from a central midfield position to fire a low shot from 22 yards that fizzed a couple of yards wide of the North Ferriby goal – meanwhile, Nantwich launched a second attack after they won a midfield tussle from Steve Wilson’s goal kick, Michael Lennon the architect of a move that first brought in Dave Whittaker followed by Ashley Carter who zoomed in from wide on the North Ferriby left in an attempt to latch on to Whittakers defence splitting pass – alas, the pace of the ball proved a shade too much for the winger leaving the ball to go out for a goal kick. However, ‘The Dabbers’ had to wait no longer than the 5th minute before Michael Lennon struck to put Nantwich ahead. Once again, the midfield partnership of Glyn Blackhurst and Dave MacPherson were instrumental in winning possession and with Whittaker on the edge of the area with back to goal he held off his marker before making a slide rule pass to Lennon deep on the visitors left before Lennon looked up and fired a pin point shot from an acute angle across Wilson into the opposite bottom corner of the net for his 23rd goal of the season. Moments later, Lennon again worked himself space deep on the North Ferriby left hand side but on this occasion ‘The Dabbers’ leading scorer was a shade too close to the bye line for his low shot to trouble Wilson who comfortably held at the foot of his left hand post.

Nantwich had been so active from the kick off that it seemed longer than seven minutes before the visitors produced their first attack and when they did, a minute later, Lee Jones was called into action to punch clear from a corner before then pulling off a fine save from Ferriby midfielder Ben Morley. But, despite this flurry of activity from the visitors it wasn’t long before Nantwich were on the attack again with MacPherson going close with a glancing header from 8 yards out in the 10th minute. And with no let up in the ‘Dabbers’ work rate they deservedly increased their advantage in the 16th minute with a fine goal from Dave Whittaker. Carter and Lennon were again involved in the final build up and when the ball reached Whittaker he timed his move to perfection before beating Wilson from 12 yards at the foot of his left hand post. Whether that 2nd goal was a factor that caused Nantwich to lose shape for a time is debatable but they were fortunate not to concede on several occasions particularly after Ferriby winger Colin Hunter made several foraging runs deep along the Nantwich right – in one particular move Hunters angled shot evaded both defence and ‘keeper and had Calum Russell been a shade closer to the far post a touch on the ball would have seen the Ferriby striker almost certainly to have reduced the deficit. Having built a head of steam the visitors continued to plug away but that final ball continued to evade the visitors who,up until Michael Lennon’s 5th minute goal, had gone 305 minutes without conceding. Meanwhile, Hunter continued to cause problems and with just 3 minutes before the break Ferriby front runner Simon Bird latched on to a loose ball in front of the Nantwich defence before Jones pulled off a great save from the Ferriby No.9 but went one better a minute before the break when he made a top draw save from midfielder Russell Fry to send the visitors back to the dressing room still in arrears.

North Ferriby returned from the dressing room to continue were they left off and in the 50th minute right back David Cooke brought Fry into play 10 yards from goal but miss kicked his shot from a good position. At the other end a blistering shot from Danny Griggs fizzed across the face of goal after Whittaker and Lennon had combined initially to set up Griggs but in the 56th minute Whittaker’s stunning goal brought a standing ovation from the large crowd after he picked up the ball deep over on the North Ferriby left before striking a powerful volley past Wilson into the top far corner of the net. Meanwhile, the visitors introduced the much travelled Leo Fortune-West into the attack and whilst his height alone may have put off the average defender he received no change, particularly out of Charlie O’Loughlin, who stayed tight to the big man throughout leaving him with only a single weak shot to show for his efforts.

On 62 minutes, Dave Walker replaced the hard working Michael Lennon whose first touch from a Griggs pass dipped narrowly wide of the right hand post before Griggs departed to be replaced by Robin Gibson – his first game after completing a 3 match suspension. At the other end, Fortune-West managed to break free but the experience of ‘Dabbers’ captain Darren Tinson stopped the tall North Ferriby substitute in his tracks and send Nantwich forward again. Then,7 minutes from normal time, Nantwich effectively put the game beyond the reach of North Ferriby when Dave Macpherson stole in between defenders Liam Chapman and Paul Foot to beat Wilson from 8 yards after initial good work by Gibson out on the North Ferriby right hand side.

To be fair to North Ferriby, they arrived with a decent record and proved a hard side to beat. Had it not been for some wayward finishing the game may well have made for a tighter contest but whilst Nantwich have on more than one occasion this season have been guilty of the same in this particular match, most of what they produced was on target, and in a crucial game at that.

Head coach Steve Davis reflected:- “ A very important win for us and against a side that give very little away. We began well, and I think those couple of early goals knocked their (North Ferriby) confidence for a time. But they came back at us and put us under pressure at times, albeit without hurting us. We expected Fortune-West to come on at some stage so we told Darren (Tinson) and Charlie (O’Loughlin) to stay tight and drag him wide. In contrast, our front men were top draw today and with a little bit more luck at other times could have added a couple more”.

Nantwich Town “Man of the Match”. Dave Macpherson.

Nantwich Town have been awarded the UniBond Premier Division ‘Club of the Month’ award for February.

Note: Following release from his contract with Newcastle Town earlier in the week striker Andy Kinsey has returned to the Weaver Stadium and is set to sign non contract terms until the end of season. He attended his first training session last Thursday and was at the North Ferriby match on Saturday.

Match report written by Phil Johnson