Words and photo by Liam Price
An inspired Sean Cooke hat-trick helped Nantwich Town come from behind to secure a crucial 3-2 win over in-form City of Liverpool at Bootle’s Berry Street Garages Stadium.
In the first half, the home side’s successes were all coming from the wings. New signing Elliot Morris got in behind on the right hand side and tried to find Ishmael Sonko, luckily for the Dabbers he wasn’t ready and the ball bounced off him into the hands of Danny Roberts.
Roberts was on hand again to deny Morris, saving a near post attempt from him again on the right hand side.
In truth it was a very bitty first half where neither team was really getting a foothold in proceedings.
Nantwich’s first shot on target actually came after The Purps’ first corner, the Dabbers breaking and Sean Cooke trying to catch out Calvin Hare who held on well.
Jack Hont won a header from a corner that was cleared by Byron Harrison, the rebound then caught by Roberts.
The Dabbers didn’t heed that warning. Six minutes later, the same player Hont rose highest with little marking to power a header in from close range. There was a question of an offside in the build up to the corner but there was no question it was poor defending from Nantwich.
Roberts did well to push away a long range bouncing strike just before the break, the game had been meandering but it was the home team who had grabbed the initiative and were looking like a team that had only lost 1 of their last 10 in all competitions.
After an exchanging of what manager Paul Carden described as ‘a few home truths’ at half time, the Dabbers looked sharper straight away.
The true spark arrived on 55 minutes. Stevie Hewitt swung in a free kick from out wide, it bounced around the box and Cooke popped up to poke in the equaliser, his instincts as sharp as ever.
That really lit the fuse and the Dabbers looked a different team, suddenly the passes were being pinged around and City of Liverpool looked much less secure.
Kai Evans and Jake Kirby-Reed switched wings and that tweak also worked well, Kai picking out Byron Harrison at the near post but Byron not quite able to flick the header the way he’d have liked.
A penalty claim on Harrison was waved away and then there was another slight lull. With just over 15 minutes to go, Akiel Raffie was brought on for his second Nantwich debut and made an impact almost immediately, putting in crosses that cause defences problems. It was only a small cameo this time, but it was like he’d never been away.
One of those crosses led to a corner. From that corner, another penalty box scramble led to a spot kick. Bodies everywhere meant it was hard to see for sure live, but suddenly the referee had not only pointed for a Nantwich penalty but had a red card in his hand for the The Purps’ Danny Mitchley; it soon became clear he’d handled the ball on the goal line and had to go.
Cooke, who for most of the season has had to cede penalty duties to Harrison through injury, was on the spot this time and put it away high in the middle of the goal to complete the comeback.
2 minutes later, he wrapped up a magnificent 25-minute hat trick as City of Liverpool struggled to adapt to being down to 10 players.
Once again, the home side were guilty of not clearing their lines properly, this time it dropped kindly to Cooke in plenty of space, which for a player of his quality you simply cannot do; Sean tucked it into the far corner to make it 3-1.
It turned out to be a decisive goal, as 5 minutes from time City of Liverpool pulled one back. A remarkable shot that came in after Nantwich couldn’t deal with a deep cross saw the ball hit both posts, a bamboozled Roberts unable to get there, and the ball pulled back with a brilliant Morris backheel for substitute Danny Mitchley to score the easiest of tap-ins.
A mammoth 9 minutes of added time were moving at a glacial pace, Nantwich could have killed it once and for all through Evans but he couldn’t keep a tough shot down. There were no other chances for the home side to level and the Dabbers were able to return to Cheshire with a first league win in 7 games.
The next home game is against Witton Albion in the Second Round of the Cheshire Senior Cup on 5th December at 7.45pm.
Teams
City of Liverpool: Calvin Hare, Michael Simpson, Jack Hont (Jawad Jebrin, 82), Adam Rooney, Michael Grogan, Kenny Strickland, Callum Schorah, Max Allen, Ismail Sonko (Xenon Bahula, 63), Josh Quarless (Danny Mitchley, 63), Elliot Morris
Subs not used: Ibrahim Conteh, Ethan Jones
Goals: Hont (39), Mitchley (85)
Red card: Mitchley (76)
Nantwich Town: Danny Roberts, Troy Bourne, Tyler Hill, Steven Hewitt, Nathan Okome, Scott Butler, Kai Evans, Paddy Kay, Byron Harrison (Connor Rankin, 82), Sean Cooke (Ahmed Ali, 90), Jake Kirby-Reed (Akiel Raffie, 73)
Subs not used: Perry Bircumshaw, AJ Leitch-Smith
Goals: Cooke (55, 78, 80)
Attendance: 324