By Liam Price
It’s the final home game of the season for the Dabbers on Saturday (3pm kick-off) with City of Liverpool the visitors in a game that has something riding on it for both teams, more the visitors than Nantwich however.
Purp-utations
City of Liverpool secured an absolutely crucial 2-0 win on Wednesday evening over local rivals Bootle. Not only was it a derby, it was a clash of 2 teams strongly in play-off contention, a situation complicated further by Bootle getting a 1-point deduction this week for fielding an ineligible player. It was also a battle between two sides whose groundshare agreement ended acrimoniously this season, resulting in City of Liverpool now playing their home games at Widnes’ DCBL Stadium.
They are now 4th on goal difference, ahead of Bootle and Witton also on 59 points behind them. They have only lost 1 of their last 14 games in all competitions, and kept clean sheets in 4 of their last 5. The one blemish in those runs was an extraordinary 6-4 defeat to Chasetown 2 weeks ago, where they were 4-1 down at half time and managed to pull it back to 5-4 before conceding late. But that game is very much the exception to what has been a deeply impressive season for a team that finished 17 points off the play-offs last season.
There is an incredibly narrow window for Nantwich but it won’t become relevant unless the Dabbers win the last 2 games, starting with what will probably need to be a significant win on Saturday, not to mention slip ups by Bootle and/or Witton. A 5 point deficit to 3 teams with 2 games to play, plus Widnes lurking with a game in hand also on 54 points and a better goal difference, is the stark maths.
Last Time We Met
The reverse game in November was the last hurrah for Sean Cooke in a Nantwich shirt, a superb hat trick securing an excellent 3-2 win on the road. Worth noting that both of CoL’s goals that day came from set pieces. Highlights below.
Players to Watch
Kenny Strickland has scored 5 penalties in his last 4 games, if the Dabbers concede a spot kick in this game it’s essentially a guaranteed goal. Josh Quarless remains their top scorer overall on 19 in all competitions and scored on Wednesday night.
Match Information
Tickets are available HERE or on the gate. A significant expected crowd for the Crewe Wrexham game, which is a lunchtime kick off, may mean increased traffic in the area as that game finishes.
Our Player of the Match sponsors for this game are Middlewich’s Elite Vehicle Repair Centre, thanks to them for their support!
And our matchball sponsors are The Cat FM’s Neil Davis and Gary Johnson on behalf of Neil’s dad. We thank them for their support today and all season long.