Nantwich Town 1
Burscough 1
League (NPL Premier Division)

Match Report

Date: Tuesday 25th August.2009


NANTWICH TOWN 1 v BURSCOUGH 1
Ashley Carter.10 Darren Byers. 20.


NANTWICH TOWN: Jones. Sedgemore. Shaw. Flynn. Tinson. McPherson. Jack. Sutton. Carter. Rhead. Lennon. Substitutes: Blackhurst. Whittaker. Gibson. Southern. Chapman.

Attendance: 472.

Nantwich were anxious to return to winning ways following the weekend defeat at the hands of leaders Stocksbridge Park Steels. Meanwhile, assistant head coach Kevin Street is holding the reins during Peter Hall’s absence (holiday) – the Nantwich No.2 making a couple of positional changes for the visit of Burscough – Chris Flynn moving from midfield to the centre of defence whilst Richie Sutton moved from defence into midfield.

‘The Dabbers’ pressed from the start and on 10 minutes secured a corner –the ball then played back to Ashley Carter who responded with a cracking first time 25 yard shot that flew into the top corner of the net to give Nantwich the lead. Meanwhile, at the other end, a foul by Darren Tinson led to a free kick for Burscough but Nantwich were able to clear their lines after the ball struck the defensive wall. However, despite taking the lead Nantwich looked far from a confident side and in the 20th minute Burscough striker Darren Byers took advantage of some hesitant defending to fire past Lee Jones to level the match.

On 22 minutes Nantwich striker Michael Lennon won the ball before bringing in Carter who was rather unfortunate not to score for a second time when his close range shot was scrambled off the line by a desperate Burscough defence. Nantwich went on to register 5 corners as the opening period moved to a close whilst three minutes from the break only the width of the crossbar prevented Rodney Jack from opening his account for Nantwich when he latched on to a Matt Rhead pass as ‘The Dabbers’ laid siege to the opposition goal.

Half Time: NANTWICH TOWN 1 v BURSCOUGH 1

The second half proved somewhat disappointing as far as Nantwich were concerned and the passing game for which ‘The Dabbers’ have long been renowned has for the moment, almost disappeared. A long range Rodney Jack effort fell wide of the target whilst Matty Rhead’s 25 yard free kick ballooned over the bar. Late on in the match Carter set up Lennon but the finish from the normally clinical striker failed to trouble the Burscough ‘keeper.

Match report written by Phil Johnson