Nantwich Town 3
Northwich Victoria 2
League (NPL Premier Division)

Match Report

Nantwich Town 3 –2 Northwich Victoria
Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division – 1st November 2011
A scintillating first half display gave Nantwich their sixth consecutive win at the Weaver Stadium.
Goals from Fraser McLachlan, Mat Bailey and Ben Mills gave the Dabbers a 3-0 lead before Tom Smythe and Wayne Riley replied for Northwich.
It took just five minutes for Nantwich to take the lead; Aleksandrs Solovjovs crossed deep for McLachlan to head home his first goal for the club since signing from Colwyn Bay.
The hosts made it 2-0 after only 12 minutes when Bailey came back to haunt his former club by poking home Niall Maguire’s cut back.
The Dabbers were in dreamland on 37 minutes as Solovjovs once again provided a deep cross only this time leading marksman Mills was on hand to head home his tenth of the season.
Vics, to their credit, never gave up and kept the game alive in first half stoppage time; Michael Roddy’s free kick was perfect for Smythe to power home at the back post.
Northwich started the second half in the same way they had finished the first and continued to push for a goal, Smythe combined well with Roddy before flashing a shot over from 25 yards.
The visitors got their reward on 69 minutes as Riley beat two men before crashing a 22 yard strike into Brain’s bottom right hand corner.
The Vics couldn’t find an equaliser though as Nantwich held firm to secure another vital three points in their promotion push.
Nantwich now sit 7th in the Evostik Northern Premier Division with a game in hand on 5th placed Marine.
Dabbers Man of the Match: Mat Bailey (A solid performance once again from the towering centre half, he won every header and got his reward with a goal against his former employers.)
Nantwich: Brain, Lowe, Solovjovs (Mitchell, 84), Maguire (Jack, 89), Bailey, Moss, Cooke (MacPherson, 70), Flynn (c), Mills, Lennon, McLachlan. Subs: Foster, Everall.
Northwich: Hinchliffe, Disney, Short, Smythe, Kearney (c), Field, Riley, Roddy, Budrys (Clarke, 76), Wade (Ennis, 84), Johnson (Woolfe, 84). Subs: Moyo, Sumner.

Match report written by Ashley Houghton