Halesowen Town 1
Nantwich Town 1
FA Cup (3rd Round Qualifying)

Match Report

Nantwich Town will be in the hat for the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round draw after they earned a 1-1 draw at Halesowen Town.

The Dabbers dominated possession, but were up against a solid Halesowen defence.

A mistake at the back from Nantwich allowed top scorer Kaiman Anderson to break the deadlock just after the hour mark.

However, the Dabbers recovered when Sam Hall’s shot deflected in via the head of Josh Hancock 15 minutes from time.

The game struggled to get going in the first half as driving rain and a tricky pitch made conditions tough.

Ryan Brooke was the first to have a sight of goal, as he side footed a cross from Ibou Touray wide of the post. Matt Bell then headed a Theo Stair cross over the bar.

Halesowen made a tactical change, with Richard Sho-Silva subbed off for Ethan Delaney as the Yeltz went with two strikers up front.

They had their first effort on 41 minutes when Delaney’s shot was well saved by Dave Parton.

The second half took on a similar pattern with the Dabbers controlling possession.

Delaney put a half chance wide of Parton’s near post, and on 62 minutes, they had the breakthrough following a rare mistake in the Dabbers’ defence.

A quick ball forward got to Anderson, who found space in the Nantwich back line. He steadied himself before rolling the ball into the bottom corner past Parton.

Nantwich boss Phil Parkinson brought on Josh Hancock for Wayne Riley as the Dabbers searched for the equaliser.

On 74 minutes, Sean Cooke’s free-kick was tipped over the bar by Platt as Nantwich turned up the pressure.

Two minutes later, they were level when the ball fell to Hall on the edge of the box and he hit a shot towards goal.

It deflected off Hancock and the change in direction caught out Platt, who could only watch it loop over him and into the net.

Touray went into the book for a late challenge and Dave Walker came on for Brooke with 10 minutes to go as the Dabbers looked for a winner.

Walker went close a minute after coming on, as he put a low header just wide of the post after a good cross from Hancock.

Cooke then saw a dipping effort go just over and Anderson shot straight at Parton at the other end.

Nantwich Town: Dave Parton, Andy White, Ben Harrison, Curtis Jones, Ibou Touray, Sam Hall(c), Matt Bell, Theo Stair, Sean Cooke (Osebi Abadaki, 85), Wayne Riley (Josh Hancock, 65), Ryan Brooke (Dave Walker, 80). Subs not used: Reece Quinn, Josh Gordon, Danny Griggs

Match report written by Jack Jones (www.nantwichtownfc.co.uk)