Nantwich Town 0
Chasetown 2
League (NPL Division 1 West)

Match Report

Dabbers captain Troy Bourne made his 300th appearance for the club in defence, and it was the home defence who were tested first as Joey Butlin’s backheel towards goal was blocked.

Then, a pair of shots from Kofi Moore were both blocked in the Chasetown box.

A huge chance fell the way of Nathan Sandison in the 15th minute, but it was somehow deflected onto the post by a combination of Pond and a defender. It looked destined for the net but not to be.

James Melhado’s quality of delivery has seen a real uplift in the last couple of games and there were a few examples here, one in particular was begging to be put in the net but Kai Evans could only steer it over the bar from a narrow angle.

The Scholars had a big opening of their own near the half hour, one shot being blocked and the second being dragged wide by Sam Unitt when it looked easier to score.

Moore made half a chance out of nowhere when looping a cross towards Alex Panter which he couldn’t quite get on the end of.

Melhado aimed the ball towards goal but a deflection just carried it over the bar, before Joey Butlin failed to test Garratt for the visitors.

Evans, on somewhat of a goal drought by his standards, sent a curling shot into the hands of Curtis Pond in his first bit of space he was allowed in the game.

Another good chance came when Mellor flashed a snapshot wide inside the box near the interval after a good header down by Panter. It should have been 2-1 to the Dabbers at half time, instead it was goalless.

The half-time break seemed to knock the Dabbers out of their rhythm, as from the start of the second period there was an increased sloppiness on the ball that was putting them under unnecessary pressure.

Tom Thorley sent a wicked low cross across the face of the Nantwich goal as they successfully started targeting the Dabbers’ midfield and won the ball to counter time and time again.

Evans sent a shot that looked like it may have troubled the top corner were it not for a brave defensive header.

From almost nowhere though, the visitors took the lead just shy of the hour. Chasetown’s top scorer George Cater swept in with great precision after the ball had been lost by Nantwich in midfield again.

The accumulated hits of bad results meant the Nantwich confidence disappeared in the minutes after that goal. In those moments, the team slipped back into bad old habits of loose passes and aimless long balls.

Perry Bircumshaw did well as the Scholars looked to break again, before Jack Langston lashed a shot wide.

Nantwich did find their way back into a better headspace when Panter had the opportunity to level the score with a low shot in the box but could not pick out the bottom corner as Cater had at the other end.

He then couldn’t quite get on the end of a deflected Kai Evans shot as the home frustration grew. The real worry would be if Nantwich chances weren’t being created but that hasn’t happened in the last 3 games at least.

The one time Nantwich did have the ball in the net, the flag went up for offside. It may have been sub Callum Saunders adjudged to be beyond the last defender but in real time it was hard to tell.

The away side struck again just as the game ticked into stoppage time, Unitt running through and rounding the keeper to kill the game. There were shambolic scenes as the assistant referee put his flag up for offside and the referee gave the goal, when it was clear to see the player who provided the assist won the ball back after coming back from an offside position, a decision that beggars belief but probably made no difference to the result with around 3 minutes left afterwards.

So ends Nantwich’s 12 game unbeaten home league run and Jon Moran’s unbeaten home league record as Nantwich manager. Despite the pain of this game, that’s something to be proud of and also must be aimed to be matched again if the Dabbers are to get out of this current rut.

Teams
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, James Melhado, Perry Bircumshaw (Byron Harrison, 76), Kelvin Mellor, Troy Bourne (C), Joe Bunney, Kofi Moore (Matty Tweedley, 63), Tom Pratt, Alex Panter, Nathan Sandison (Callum Saunders, 63), Kai Evans

Subs not used: Joe Robbins, Daz Thornton

Chasetown: Curtis Pond, Oli Hayward, Jordan Evans, Kieran Fenton, Mitchell Clarke, Sam Wilding (Danny O’Callaghan, 77), Tom Thorley, Jack Langston (C) (Danny Glover, 90+4), Joey Butlin (Joe Thompson, 90+4), Sam Unitt, George Cater (Ben Lund, 86)

Sub not used: Kris Taylor

Goals: Cater (58), Unitt (90+1)

Attendance: 575

Match report written by Liam Price (www.nantwichtownfc.co.uk)