Nantwich Town 2
Kendal Town 0
FA Trophy (2nd Round Qualifying)

Match Report

Phil Parkinson celebrated his 100th game in charge of Nantwich Town by guiding the team to a 2-0 win over Kendal Town. It meant the Dabbers advanced to the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy and extended their winning run to seven games in all competitions.

The home side dominated the game, but had to wait until the final 10 minutes to secure the victory with goals from Joshua Hancock and an own goal.

Kendal started the brighter as they forced a number of corners and applied early pressure on the Nantwich backline.

The Dabbers weathered the storm, began to control possession and the chances started to arrive.

Curtis Jones headed over from a corner (pictured), before Sean Cooke fired a free kick a yard over.

Wayne Riley shot over from a decent position and Hancock curled just over the bar a minute later.

Ryan Brooke forced Kendal keeper Will Kitchen into a smart save at close range.

Hancock again shot wide, whilst a goalmouth scramble was capitalised on by Cooke, but his effort was cleared off the line.

The Dabbers were dominating the game, but were coming up against a stubborn Kendal defence.

Brooke then had the best chance of the game, as a wayward clearance dropped into the penalty area.

He hit the ball as it fell with a great first time volley, but the ball cannoned off the post and bounced away to safety.

Just before half time, Kendal attacker Tom Kilifin looked like he had a clear route to goal, but Touray recovered and forced the ball out.

On 53 minutes, Jones challenged at a corner and the ball appeared to hit the hand of a Kendal player, but the referee was not interested.

The first change arrived on the hour mark as Abadaki came off and Mwasile came on.

Brooke had another chance as he hit into the side netting.

The Dabbers continued to dominate the game.

Brooke and Mwasile both went close to scoring, as more changes followed.

Riley and Brooke came off for Tim Sanders and Theo Stair respectively.

The Dabbers remained patient and earned their reward with 10 minutes to go. Kitchen mishit a clearance straight to Cooke, who fed the ball to Hancock and he worked some space before burying it past the keeper.

Two minutes after going ahead, Nantwich sealed the win.

Andy White did well down the right and tricked his way into the penalty area.

He crossed into the six-yard box and Kitchen could only palm the ball onto the unfortunate Stuart McDonald, who deflected it in.

White and Cooke both had chances to add a third, but Kendal twice came close to grabbing a consolation.

First Sam Bailey shot straight at Parton before sub Rob Bowman beat the offside trap and bundled the ball towards goal, but it trickled narrowly wide.

Nantwich Town: Dave Parton, Andy White, Ibou Touray, Curtis Jones, Ben Harrison, Matt Bell, Josh Hancock(c), Wayne Riley (Tim Sanders, 67), Ryan Brooke (Theo Stair, 74), Sean Cooke, Osebi Abadaki (Joe Mwasile, 59). Subs not used: Reece Quinn, Dave Walker

Match report written by the Nantwich News