Nantwich Town 2
Matlock Town 0
FA Trophy (1st Round)

Match Report

Nantwich Town made history as they made the second round proper of the FA Trophy for the first time, beating Matlock Town at the Weaver Stadium.

Goals either side of half-time from Josh Hancock and Elliot Osborne sealed the victory.

Nantwich started the stronger of the two, with, but the Dabbers couldn’t fashion a chance in the first of 20 minutes of note.

Andy White nearly opened the scoring when he went on a great run and cut in before seeing his shot hit Shotton and go out for a throw in.

Osborne nearly made it 1-0 on 23 minutes when he cut inside and his shot was deflected over by a defender, taking it just over the bar.

The corner was cleared to Hancock and as he jinxed towards the area and then won a foul as he was knocked off the ball.

From the free kick, Hancock stepped up and smashed the ball over the wall and into the back of the net to make it 1-0.

Matlock could have levelled almost immediately when a sloppy pass from Osborne found Craig Nelthorpe.

He crossed the ball and Niall McManus was able to connect with an overhead kick, but the effort went over.

Dabbers defence was well-marshalled by Darren Thornton with a number of key blocks keeping the visitors out.

After the break, Matlock won a couple of free kicks in dangerous areas as they looked for a way back into the game.

Nantwich were lucky when a cross curled away from Burzynski in the strong winds, falling to Purkiss. He tried to chip Burzynski who scrambled back to catch the ball safely.

Matlock had their best chance on 57 minutes when a ball from Alger found Purkiss and he turned and shot, which flew just over Burzynski’s bar.

On the hour mark, sub Matty Kosylo played in Hancock, who rounded Willis who brought him down for a penalty.

Osborne stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way to double the Dabbers lead.

Kosylo was having a major impact as a sub and he played in Osborne in the area, who went for goal but it went just wide.

Midway through the second half, Matlock won a free kick just outside the area as Bailey bundled over Purkiss but the resulting free kick sailed over.

Willis could have been left with egg on his face after his clearance on 72 minutes, when it smashed Shotton’s backside and zipped towards the goal.

Both keeper and forward chased it down but the keeper slid to grab the ball just before it crossed the line.

Substitute Sean Cooke played a delightful through ball to Kosylo who had too much time and ended up shooting too close to the keeper.

Cooke had a chance in the final minute of injury time when he won the ball in the area and his curling effort sailed just wide.

Nantwich Town: Burzynski, White, Thornton, Moran, Bailey, Osborne, Hancock, Hall (C), Shotton, Bell and Short. Subs: Kosylo (on for Short), Gordon (on for Shotton), Jones, Cooke (on for Osborne) and T.Smith.

Match report written by www.nantwichtownfc.co.uk