By Liam Price
Nantwich Town recorded their first win and clean sheet of pre-season with a 1-0 win away at Market Drayton Town.
Jon Moran rotated the side from Friday night’s draw with Gresford, giving first starts of the summer to Joel Connolly, Byron Harrison and Aidy Roxburgh and first Dabbers starts overall to Ben Greenop and Byron Moore.
Connolly had the first real shot of the game, firing over inside the first 10 minutes.
A pitch dried out by the recent heatwaves was proving tough for the away side to adapt to, as shown somewhat when Moore scuffed a shot at Matthew Holmes in the home goal.
A cross across the face of goal and a free kick straight at Ben Garratt were as much as the home side threatened in the first half.
Kelvin Mellor almost gave Nantwich the lead in the 37th minute after a smart free kick was slid right into his path in the box, his low shot was very well cleared off the line by a scrambling Market Drayton defender.
In the second half, the Dabbers made some attacking changes and these started to bear fruit.
One of those was Callum Saunders for his first appearance of the summer; a deflected shot of his ended up at the feet of Harrison who forced a good save from Holmes at his near post.
Market Drayton dragged a shot wide at one end, before the biggest moment of the game.
Alex Panter had also come on and did well to bring a high ball out of the sky. As it looked as if he may shoot and try to replicate his goal from Friday night, he instead slid the ball in behind to the onrushing Roxburgh. There was a collision of feet and the referee gave the penalty. Roxburgh was unquestionably goal side of his man but it also wasn’t an intentional trip on him.
One of the Nantwich trialists stepped up and tucked it away cooly past Holmes for 1-0.
Joe Robbins sliced an effort wide as Nantwich tried to take the game away from the home side.
But they rallied well and applied some pressure in the last 15 minutes. One pull back was curled narrowly away from the Dabbers sub keeper’s far post.
He was called into action though moment later. A whipped effort had to be pushed away from under his bar, before a late free kick also had to be helped over the woodwork to maintain that clean sheet and get the Dabbers off the mark.
Teams
Market Drayton Town: Matthew Holmes, Callum Griffiths, Connor Lawton, Reece Taylor, Owen Beamon, Liam Robinson, Dan Holdcroft, Jack Finney, Dave Ablewhite, Oliver Jones, Joel Reece
Subs: Sid Gilford, Isaac Shaw, Josh Kewish, Rico Gordon, Theo Pinto, Charlie Beamon
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, Aidy Roxburgh, Josh Williams, Kelvin Mellor (C), Ben Hockenhull, Trialist, Ben Greenop, Fenton Green, Byron Harrison, Joel Connolly, Byron Moore
Subs: Perry Bircumshaw, Joe Robbins, Callum Saunders, Alex Panter, Reece Vaughan, Trialists x3
Goal: Trialist (64, pen)