By Liam Price
Nantwich Town came from a goal and a man down to draw 1-1 with Mossley at Seel Park.
Kelvin Mellor was ill so Adam Rooney came into the side, as did Joe Piggott for his first start since returning to the club. Fylde youngster Mason McKay was also on the bench for the first time in a Nantwich shirt.
Alex Panter was in a front 2 with Byron Harrison in a formation that has borne fruit in recent weeks, and hit the outside of the post in the first 5 minutes from a narrow angle with a low strike.
Intense rainfall in the hour up to kick off did raise some doubt on if the game would even end up being played at all, but luckily it relented in time for 3pm.
But one thing that did remain was the wind and it was a factor in the opening goal of the game.
The first corner of the game was a Mossley one and it did catch in the breeze, with Ben Garratt making weak contact with a punch as a result. That allowed Joe Adams to hook it back towards goal where it hit the inside of the post and was cleared, however the assistant flagged to say it had gone over the line for 1-0.
In only the 12th minute the Dabbers were behind to a side unbeaten in their previous 12 games, and struggled to create much in response.
Harrison and Panter both missed the target with ambitious attempts, but the service into them was the thing that was lacking most and meant they were sometimes trying to make these chances for themselves.
Reece Webb-Foster, Mossley’s top scorer and the man who found the net for the Lillywhites in the reverse fixture, had his first effort at goal shortly before half time, seeing a well hit shot deflected behind for a corner.
The second half followed much the same pattern at the start, both teams labouring to create clear cut chances, but a pivotal moment changed all that just past the hour mark.
Jack Marrow traded passes on the right hand side and looked to break into the box, but was brought down on the edge by James Baillie. It felt instinctively like a very straightforward yellow card.
However, the referee shocked everyone of a Nantwich persuasion and a fair few from Mossley too by producing a straight red card for denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity. The angle towards goal was a negative one for Marrow and crucially Paddy Kennedy was there as a covering defender, so the decision remained a baffling one even after the game had finished.
No one in the home crowd was appealing for a red when it would be in their interests to, which is often a good indicator that a decision is wrong. And the thing the Mossley players were interested in was whether it was inside the box, which it also wasn’t.
Adams curled the subsequent free kick wide as the Dabbers sent on Joe Robbins to sure things up. Aidy Roxburgh switched to left back with Ben Hockenhull moving out to the right.
In a strikingly similar way to how they responded to the red card away at Lower Breck a couple of weeks ago, Nantwich kicked on, seemingly spurred on by the decision, and equalised 10 minutes after Baillie was red carded.
A corner was decisive again in this game, and as it has been in many Nantwich games recently, as when it was failed to be cleared it was recycled and dropped to Paddy Kennedy who struck it beautifully hard and low into the bottom corner. It was Kennedy’s first league goal of the season and first in any competition since the FA Cup win over Trafford in September.
Kennedy was on hand at the other end of the pitch to stop Marrow getting a shot away with a perfectly timed challenge.
Webb-Foster had a big opportunity in the last 10 minutes to give Mossley the lead back, but with some space to play with he couldn’t pick out the far corner from the right side of the box.
Sean Kgwagkwa had what turned out to be Mossley’s last shot on target in the 83rd minute which was easily held by Garratt.
The Dabbers might have yet won the game as Roxburgh was picked out breaking into the box but Finley Madigan was sharp off his line to smother the shot for a corner.
Rio Alston sliced wide and a last second home header dropped comfortably wide as Nantwich continued to frustrate the home side and will come out of this game much the happier as they move into the last 5 matches of the season.
Teams
Mossley AFC: Finley Madigan, Jack Marrow, Joe Hillary, Mark Lees (C), Jack Grundy, Sean Kgwakgwa, Isaac Noble (Rio Alston, 73), Joe Adams (Ben Connolly, 80), Reece Webb-Foster, Oumar Camara, Gee Baltazar (Obua Mugalula, 73)
Subs not used: Charlie Bingley, Riley Flaherty-Hall
Goal: Adams (12)
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, Aidy Roxburgh, James Baillie, Adam Rooney, Ben Hockenhull, Paddy Kennedy, Joe Piggott (Mason McKay, 90), Joel Connolly (C) (Fenton Green, 90), Byron Harrison (Byron Moore, 90), Joe Collins (Joe Robbins, 64), Alex Panter
Sub not used: Paddy Jarrett
Goal: Kennedy (72)
Red card: Baillie (61)
Attendance: 493