Nantwich Town 2
Frickley Athletic 1
League (NPL Premier Division)

Match Report

Nantwich Town 2 Frickley Atletic 1

DABBERS manager Danny Johnson was proud of the way his side nicked three points on Saturday after his team played an hour with 10 men.

Both sides finished the game a man down and Nantwich were trailing at one point, but the home side turned the game around to claim the spoils.

Gusts of wind at the Weaver Stadium dominated play and lead to Frickley goalkeeper Ben Simpson gifting the winning goal to Ben Deegan 18 minutes from time.

But Johnson believes that piece of luck was the least his side’s performance deserved.

“To pick up three points when we played with 10 men against 11 for a good hour maybe, I thought we did absolutely magnificently and once they went down to 10 men I thought there was only one team going to win,” said Johnson.

"I know they threw a load of balls in but they just didn’t hurt us at all even with 11 men.

“I'm really proud of the lads to dig in at that stage (after going a goal down).

“People will say it’s near the end of the season, it’s a mid-table clash with nothing to play for. I’m sorry, I don’t agree with that.

“There was passion and desire and a will to win from both teams and fair play to them.

“There were horrible, windy conditions on a bobbly pitch which was tough to play on so it wasn’t a game for the faint-hearted and I think our lads showed loads of character.”

Nantwich planned to halt tricky Frickley winger James Ghaichem from the offset and they did so well.

But Alex Frost saw red only seven minutes in for a last-man offence when he hacked down Frickley’s Luke Hinsley outside the box, forcing Nantwich striker Deegan to drop back into defence.

A powerful shot from Gavin Allott almost gave the visitors the lead on 16 minutes but goalkeeper Steve James showed strong wrists to parry the ball away.

Max Harrop went close with the help of the wind on 39 minutes, only for Frickley’s Simpson to push his low shot wide.

But Ghaichem profited from space created by Allott on 56 minutes to curl his shot stylishly into the back of the net.

However, that lead lasted less than a minute as Oliver Devenney coolly finished with the outside of his foot after being fed by Andy White’s through ball.

And the teams were levelled up numerically on 65 minutes after Allott was sent off for swinging an arm to the face of Deegan.

That seemed to spur Deegan on as he scored from close range on 72 minutes after keeper Simpson fluffed a catch from Devenney’s in-swinging corner.

Frickley were claiming for handball on 76 minutes when a shot was blocked on the line but the referee waved away their appeals.

Johnson was delighted that his players stuck to his plan having secured the win, particularly with the equalising goal that got Nantwich back into the game.

He said: “I’ve been telling Ollie and Andy Keogh you need to go beyond the forwards and Ollie went beyond the forwards and guess what happened?

“He scored a goal and if Ollie and Keogh try to do that they’ll get on the end of things.”

Match report written by Peter Morse (Nantwich Chronicle)