By Liam Price, photos by Jonathan White
Nantwich Town’s youngsters stormed through to the First Round Qualifying of the FA Youth Cup with a 5-1 win over Lichfield City at the Swansway Stadium.
Evidence of the standards among manager Steve Newman and his squad was on show before the game even started, when the players arrived to the stadium in shirts and club ties, something rarely seen even in senior football these days.
Lichfield had the first real shot of the game, but Nantwich keeper and captain Louis Melling was quickly down to his left to save.
The Dabbers then had a couple of efforts, one from Kenzie Pickles was kept out by Logan Smith.
Seconds after this, Nantwich found the breakthrough. A low cross from Jacob Hall was finished smartly by the Dabbers number 9 Harry Edge.
But Lichfield struck back within two minutes of going behind. The Dabbers didn’t manage to clear the ball properly and a cross was expertly headed in by their captain Harry Newman, who sent it looping over Melling.
A header for each side narrowly missed the target, but the game was getting too open for the Dabbers’ liking. A couple of end-to-end moments summed it up, one ending with Lichfield clearing almost off their own line and another with Melling making his best save from Luke Eastup.
Russell Taroni was proving the biggest danger for the visitors, after beating his marker again he forced Melling into more action.
Nantwich made some adjustments with it level at the break and came out much more on the front foot; this paid off very quickly.
Freddie Shawcross did well to keep the ball alive and created a chance that was deflected just wide.
And it was Shawcross who put the Dabbers back in the lead in the 51st minute, firing in low from the right side of the box before breaking out the Cole Palmer celebration.
Lichfield tried to strike back immediately again, and nearly did so in a crazy sequence that saw several shots rain in, with a combination blocks and saves in there before Melling gratefully fell on the ball.
They continued to push but this left them susceptible to the counter, and the Dabbers took full advantage of this when Edge was played clean through past Lichfield’s high line and coolly lobbed Smith for his second and Nantwich’s third.
The away side were reduced to 10 players with 20 minutes to go after one of their players was sent off for lashing out in a scuffle in the middle of the pitch.
Their night got worse when they conceded a penalty inside the last 10 minutes, Charlie Grimshaw nipping ahead of his man and drawing the foul.
Grimshaw took the spot kick himself and stuck it straight down the middle to settle the tie beyond doubt.
Kenzie Pickles got in on the act with 2 minutes left on the clock, finishing low beyond Smith into the far corner.
Another mad passage right at the end saw Edge somehow not complete his hat trick, then sub James Wale also shoot straight at Smith with the goal gaping, but by then the job was already done and the impressive young Dabbers march on in the cup.
They will now travel to either Stourbridge or Coton Green in the next round in the week commencing Monday 15th September.
Teams
Nantwich Town: Louis Melling (C), Jake Cooper, Wiktor Szceplocki, Drew Sibbald, Jacob Hall, Billy Newman, Charlie Grimshaw, Archie Pearce, Harry Edge, Kenzie Pickles, Freddie Shawcross
Subs: James Wale, Connor Gallagher, Giorgio Di Cicco, Callum Riley
Goals: Edge (16, 61), Shawcross (51), Grimshaw (84, pen), Pickles (88)
Lichfield City: Logan Smith, Joey Hodgkins, William Harrison, Freddie Nyman, Ollie Poole, Joshua Evans, Harry Newman (C), Taylor Everitt, Luke Eastup, Max Harwood, Russell Taroni
Subs: Joe Gilbery, Ethan Yeung, Charlie Whitehouse, Jude Hughes, Lucas Riley, Harrison Morkham
Goal: Newman (18)
Attendance: 128