Images from Alicia Day & Jamie Ross
A second half strike from Joe Rathbone helped newly promoted Avro to all three points as The Dabbers fell to an opening day defeat at The Vestacare Stadium
Manager Paul Carden included a number of new signings, and some familiar ones in his first starting line up of the season.
Avro looked to take the game to their opponents right from the off in what could best be described as changeable conditions in terms of the weather.
Muis Bibire Bello had the first chance of the match, but his shot which was heading for the top of the goal, arched away from Scott Moloney in the Nantwich net, only to see it hit the crossbar, after just two minutes of the game.
That was a very fortunate break, and one that Nantwich needed to heed if they wanted to get anything out of the game.
As the early stages of the game continued, it was very much the home side that were in the ascendency having a few good chances, but slowly as the half progressed the away side started to find their feet, and they were seeing their passes connecting, and they managed to open up the home side’s defence on a few occasions.
First it was Sean Cooke who saw a brilliant shot on the turn from the edge of the Avro penalty area fly just over the cross bar.
That was proceeded by the best chance of the half, as Cooke played a lovely cross from the right hand side, and Callum Saunders rose highest, and unchallenged in the penalty area, saw his header hit the post, and roll along the goal line, only to be then cleared to safety.
Nantwich looked to continue the momentum that they had built up, and especially the attacking duo of Cooke and Harrison, who were continuing to cause the home side’s defence all manner of problems and issues.
Harrison almost opened the scoring, but his toe poke in the area, when he just had the goalkeeper to beat, was saved down low by Grant Shenton.
The next person to try their luck was Callum Saunders once again, as he timed his run, through the centre of the defence to perfection, and it only took an outstanding save to stop him from scoring.
The away side were building up a lot of momentum, and it looked only a matter of if not when they would open the scoring.
Troy Bourne had the last opportunity to make this happen before the half time whistle, but his header from a corner, was off target, and the sides, went into the dressing rooms level, and goalless.
After the break, the Dabbers looked to carry on right where they had left off, as Joel Connolly found himself in an attacking area of the pitch, on the edge of the Avro penalty area, and he chose to have a shot, and it was only just over the bar.
That was as good as it got for the away side, as not too long after that, the home side took the lead.
Dylan Fitzgerald found himself, free on the edge of the Nantwich penalty area, and he decided to hedge his bets, and his shot was hit with a lot of venom, hard and low, and it escaped the dive of Scott Moloney, despite his best efforts.
It was the home side that took the lead, to the delight of the home crowd, which sprung to life after this.
Byron Harrison tried his best to get the away side back into the game, but once more, his shot, when he worked an opening, went just wide, to the dismay of the travelling fans.
After this, it became a bit of a war of attrition, and the game became very scrappy, which suited the home side, as they managed the game very well from this point of the game.
Plenty of crunching challenges, and a fair few stoppages, which curtailed any flow to the game, a flow that Nantwich needed to find, if they wanted to get back into the game.
Sadly, it was the home side that almost produced the moment that would have lived long of many a fan who almost witnessed it, as deep into second half injury time Matthew Crothers received the ball close to the half way line, and saw that Moloney was off of his line, and he attempted to put the ball over his head and into the net.
Thankfully the ball sailed just wide, much to the relief of everyone connected to the away side on that occasion.
But that was the end of the excitement, as the home side ran out winners, by that singular Rathbone strike.
Nantwich are next in action at Leek, as we host Vauxhall Motors there, on Tuesday 15th August 2023.
Teams:
Avro: Grant Shenton, Dominic Smalley, Max Davidson, Jack Morrow, Deane Smalley, Geffry Ebhote, Joe Rathbone, Matthew Crothers, Liam Ellis, Dylan Fitzgerald, Muis Bibre Bello.
Subs: Dylan Switters, Lee Wilshaw, Max McCarthy, Sam Rothbone, Brad Sullivan.
Nantwich Town: Scott Moloney, Joel Connolly, Perry Bircumshaw, Nathan Okome, Troy Bourne, Mohamud Ali, Steven Hewitt, Caspar Hughes, Callum Saunders, Sean Cooke, Byron Harrison.
Subs: AJ Leitch-Smith, Paddy Kay, Kai Evans, Ahmed Ali, Lewis Sinnott.