By Liam Price
Nantwich opened up their 2024/25 league campaign with a 2-0 defeat away at Bootle.
The first half saw the ball in the air for what felt like more than it was on the ground as both teams looked to shake off any lingering rustiness from pre-season and FA Cup exploits.
Ben Garratt pushed away a cross that may have been curling towards goal for the first corner of the match.
Unfortunately the officials then made an uncomfortable rod for their own backs with some perplexing and weak decisions that frustrated both sides and set an underlying tone of roughness that players began to pursue as they felt they weren’t being justly dealt with by those who are supposed to deal out justice. 11 yellow cards, including several for dissent, tells the story.
This affected the quality of football on show from what a lot of neutrals feel are two teams who could be at the sharp end of things come April. A cross whipped in from the Nantwich left was not gambled upon by anyone in green.
Michael Burkey, who struck a hat trick in this very fixture last season, missed the target with Bootle’s first attempt of the game.
One of the poorer decisions was to penalise Troy Bourne for a challenge on the left edge of the box where he seemed to win the ball relatively cleanly. The foul was harsh, the yellow card that followed even harsher.
From that free kick, Bootle came the closest yet to opening the scoring. Sean Williams may not have been going directly for goal but that was where the ball was headed via some wind assistance, just striking the corner of post and bar and bouncing away with Garratt a spectator.
The Dabbers’ first two corners showed promise but ultimately came to nothing, Courtney Meppen-Walters winning a knockdown that wasn’t followed up and Kelvin Mellor not testing Tony Thompson in the Bootle goal.
The last moment of controversy came shortly before the break. Burkey and Joel Connolly went up for an aerial challenge, Burkey lead with his elbow and made some sort of contact. The Nantwich bench were incensed, Bootle’s not having it, nothing doing other than a foul was the referee’s call.
In the second half, Meppen-Walters also could not adequately test Thompson with a header from a Tony Thompson free kick.
The Dabbers defence was opened up for the first real time on the hour mark, two defenders diving and failing to cut out a through ball allowing Tom Peterson space, but he rushed his shot and dragged it well wide from range.
Quickly after came the best Nantwich opportunity yet, Kai Evans for the first time breaching the Bootle backline and doing everything right in squaring for Tom Reilly but it was a superb block to deny Reilly what may well have been his first Dabbers goal.
The Bucks broke away up the other end and came close again themselves. But the game was finally opening up and was a much better watch for it.
Paul Carden tried to seize on this shift in the pattern of the game by putting on Callum Saunders for Reilly for another body high up. And it nearly bore fruit with more chances.
Evans was now operating more on his favoured left hand side and had a shot himself this time, but it was straight at the significant figure of Thompson from a narrow angle.
The two renewed acquaintances minutes later. Evans was slotted in behind the defence, his favourite position, but he couldn’t finish and Thompson was able to save. There were so many of those last season that Kai tucked away which made it even more shocking it hadn’t happened this time.
Bootle then scored at the other end but were flagged offside. But they weren’t to be denied in their next attack.
To rub salt in the wound of Nantwich’s missed chances, Andy Scarisbrick turned and fired into the bottom corner from around the edge of the box. It wasn’t particularly well struck but was accurate as Scarisbrick marked the start of his third spell at Bootle with a goal.
Evans fired over and then another excellent piece of defending stopped Matty Tweedley in his tracks as he looked to let fly in the box.
As happens so often, gaps appear as a losing team chases a game, and that is what happened here. A Bootle counter attack was wasted, as was some time with the home side’s three substitutions.
The NPL has this season adopted the five subs rule. But unlike nearly every other league, in their wisdom there is no limit on the number of windows in which those subs can be made. So a team winning can in theory make five separate single subs to run the clock down rather than have three ‘windows’ in which to make the five. Seven minutes were added at the end of the second half and you can expect that to be a pattern unless something is done.
In the last moments of the game, a free kick was expertly curled in by Bootle sub Jack Lenehan to seal their three points. It was a game with echoes of the first half of last season for Nantwich in terms of being punished for missed chances and all in green will be hoping it remains just an echo.
The next home game for Nantwich is against Hednesford Town at the Swansway Stadium on Tuesday 13th August at 7.45pm. You can buyt tickets HERE.
Teams
Bootle: Tony Thompson, James Cooper, Sean Smith, Sam Hughes, Will Bell, Jonny Spittle, Kenize O’Neill (Evra Yao, 71), Sean Williams (Jack Lenehan, 80), Tom Peterson, Andy Scarisbrick, Michael Burkey (Anthony Miley, 86)
Subs not used: Harry Wright, Kieran Cartwright
Goals: Scarisbrick (74), Lenehan (90+6)
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, James Melhado, Cole Lonsdale, Troy Bourne (Jon Moran, 90+2), Courtney Meppen-Walters, Kelvin Mellor, Joel Connolly (Eddie Servuts, 81), Tom Reilly (Callum Saunders, 68), Byron Harrison, Matty Tweedley, Kai Evans
Subs not used: Paddy Kennedy, Eric Merner
Attendance: 537