Nantwich Town 2
Gainsborough Trinity 1
League (NPL Premier Division)

Match Report

A Joe Malkin double helped Nantwich Town to come from behind and get their 2019-20 campaign off to a winning start.

The Dabbers were trailing 1-0 at home to Gainsborough Trinity at the Weaver Stadium when Malkin turned the game on its head.

Neither side was able to get on top in the first half with chances few and far between in a tentative season opener.

But the game livened up after the break, and it was the visitors who took the lead.

The opener came from good link up play between Allot and Worsfold, and Allot produced a fine finish on 54 minutes.

It served to kick Nantwich into action with the powerful Joe Mwasile proving a constant thorn in Gainsborough’s side.

Pressure from the hosts paid off on 69 minutes when Malkin netted a fortuitous leveller. A cross was held up in the wind and dropped onto the Trinity crossbar, and Malkin was quickest to react to nod home from a yard out.

The visitors had barely recovered when Malkin struck again less than two minutes later in the 71st minute. This time Malkin produced a piece of class as he latched on to a through ball and perfectly lobbed the on rushing keeper into the empty net.

Moments later, Malkin almost grabbed a four-minute hat-trick when substitute Will Saxon played him in but he couldn’t convert.

Gainsborough were not done and were quickly on the front foot looking to equalise themselves in the closing minutes.

A late Allot header was well saved by Hall, and Morrison also went close for the visitors.

And in the final minute, a goal-line scramble saw Hall drop on the ball on the line much t the relief of the vociferous crowd as Nantwich held on for three points.

Match report written by the Nantwich News