By Liam Price
Nantwich suffered their heaviest league defeat in over a year with a 3-0 loss at Newcastle Town.
The Dabbers made 4 changes from the win over Clitheroe, one through injury with Josh Williams out and Ben Hockenhull returning at the same time from his injury. Joel Connolly, Callum Saunders and Byron Moore all also started. Jon Moran cited tiredness for this rotation of a winning team after the game.
The home side made the best possible start in the 7th minute. A ball over the top brought a loud shout from Ben Garratt as he sought to clear. But the ball held up and Garratt collided with a Newcastle forward, allowing Cameron Dourish to sidefoot into the empty net.
They were playing to the conditions perfectly. It was windy, the grass was deliberately long and they knew exactly how the Dabbers would struggle with all these factors.
The press was sharp and accurate and they were always the first to the numerous Nantwich underhit passes, passes that wouldn’t have been underhit at the Swansway and they knew it. And it was how the second goal came about.
Before that, Oli Ritchie fired over the bar and another half chance was missed.
But they didn’t have to wait long; more nerves at the back allowed a Newcastle player into the box and Ben Hockenhull was adjudged by the referee to have brought him down and was booked as well. In real time it looked a harsh call, but once Joel Jones sent Garratt the wrong way you couldn’t argue against 2-0 being a fair scoreline.
Saunders was subbed after this goal; at the time it looked as if it might have been Moran making a tactical switch for Byron Harrison but afterwards it was confirmed this was injury related.
In the 15 minutes after the penalty, Newcastle barely had a kick of the ball, but Nantwich were not able to reduce the deficit in this period.
Perry Bircumshaw had a cross parried behind by Joe Slinn in the Newcastle goal, before Harrison had a shot blocked and Kelvin Mellor the rebound caught.
Mellor had a better chance a couple of minutes later, but got under his effort when it dropped to him in the box and sent it sailing over.
The form Dabbers man Alex Panter had his first half opening when a near post shot was blocked behind.
Having taken a break from attacking, when they did again Newcastle scored again. There was nothing exceptional about their play but it consistently cut Nantwich open worryingly easily. This time Jones was able to run through, just about get round Garratt and roll it in for 3-0 and his 7th of the season in the league. It was probably for the best that this game wasn’t televised in the end from a Nantwich perspective.
The second half became an operation in damage limitation for Nantwich. They came close a couple of times to reducing the arrears.
One of those was Harry Bower, who came off the bench and zipped a low shot narrowly wide as he still seeks his first goal for the Dabbers.
Slinn had very little to do in the game but made a couple of good saves in the last 10 minutes, one from Panter and another from Aidy Roxburgh, and that was that.
It’s worth repeating again the maxim that anyone can beat anyone on any given day on this division. Look at the other results from Saturday.
Bury, with all their resources, have now failed to win in three consecutive games at Sportking Khalsa, Mossley and Vauxhall, losing 2 of those. Congleton won at Bootle having not won a single game away all season. And Darlaston and Wythenshawe Town both won at home for the first time this season, Darlaston by beating Atherton who are in the play-offs. The key is to avoid being on the wrong end of as many of these days as possible.
Teams
Newcastle Town: Joe Slinn (C), Jack Bostock (Daniel Apantaku, 73), Sean Lawton, Ernest Ofosu, Lewis Brown, Jensen Tortoishell, Cameron Dourish (Harlan Rodgers-Morris, 90+2), Ethan Vale, Tim Grice (Will Arnold, 90+2), Joel Jones (Angus Lloyd, 60), Oliver Ritchie
Sub not used: Scott Johnston
Goals: Dourish (7), Jones (17, p; 34)
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, Aidy Roxburgh, Perry Bircumshaw (Paddy Jarrett, 83), Kelvin Mellor (C), Ben Hockenhull (Byron Harrison, 18), Paddy Kennedy, Callum Saunders, Joel Connolly, Alex Panter, Fenton Green (Rui Clarke-Phillips, 90+5), Byron Moore (Harry Bower, 60)
Attendance: 268