By Liam Price, photos by Jonathan White
An exciting last 15 minutes saw Nantwich Town and Avro draw 1-1 at the Swansway Stadium.
There was only one change for Nantwich from the defeat at Atherton, as Paddy Kennedy made his first Nantwich appearance since early February after injury in place of the suspended Perry Bircumshaw. Troy Bourne was no longer suspended but missed out with an injury of his own.
Avro had a double chance just 11 minutes in; AJ Warburton saw his shot saved well by Ben Garratt and the second effort was blocked away. The visitors should really have been ahead.
Kofi Moore flew down the left side and saw his pullback put wide by a stretching Byron Harrison for the Dabbers. Moore started the game at left wing back as Nantwich switched to a back 3 courtesy of the return of Kennedy.
James Melhado and Liam Ellis traded efforts that went relatively close but didn’t force either goalkeeper into a save.
Geffry Ebhote headed wide as he tried to repeat his feat of scoring in the reverse game.
Most of the half was characterised by good defending; it was hard to keep count of the number of shots and crosses that were well blocked by both teams.
One shot that wasn’t blocked came from Harry Bunn, whose well hit strike was parried by Garratt.
The first period nearly ended with a freakish own goal when Melhado headed over his own crossbar when that certainly wasn’t his intention.
There was an amusing moment early in the second half as dozens of fans stayed in the bar to watch the Grand National, filtering out in their droves in about the 52nd minute once it had finished, with one away supporter seemingly being the lucky one who’d picked the 33/1 winner.
More blocked efforts punctuated a scrappy opening. Avro had edged the first half but no one was really edging this one.
Nantwich were having problems in attack. No one seemed to be prepared to make runs in behind the defence which meant when the ball was played long, as it often was, there was no one near it. That is such a contrast to the back end of 2024 when the movement off the ball was so much better.
Having said that, the Dabbers did begin to build some chances in the last quarter of the game. Kelvin Mellor rose highest but headed over from a corner.
Then, Kai Evans missed a big chance on 70 minutes when blazing over from the left side of the box after doing well to nick the ball off an Avro defender. He perhaps took a touch too many which meant he had to rush his effort as he was closed down.
Avro made the Dabbers pay for that profligacy just 6 minutes later, but not without controversy. Tom Pratt was seemingly barged off the ball in midfield but nothing was given. The Ro broke away through Malakai McKenzie and he played it through to that man Warburton, who finished calmly past Garratt for his 10th of the season.
There was also a hint of offside about his run in real time, but regardless this was not the first time that Warburton had been picked out that way and the Dabbers failed to learn their lesson from that.
A couple of other half opportunities threatened to take the game out of Nantwich’s reach but they held out and managed to get themselves level in the 83rd minute.
A long free kick wasn’t cleared by Avro, it was played back in to Byron Harrison who laid it off for Saunders to curl expertly into the corner off his right foot. Saunders’ 8th goal of the campaign, matching his total from the whole of last season with 4 games still to go in this one.
There was still time in the game for more drama. Avro’s Kyle Hawley was sent off for a second yellow card in the 86th minute. His first yellow, just 4 minutes earlier for stopping a Dabbers counter, led to the free kick that Saunders ended up scoring from. The second came for a late challenge on Saunders. The hands immediately went up in apology as he tried to push back against an inevitable decision.
Saunders was well up for it now, and could have won the game in the most spectacular way. He took the ball down on his chest and volleyed over the bar; if it had dipped under then the roof may have come off the Swansway.
Ultimately the game finished level and that was probably the right result. Avro have had one hell of a week after their managers unexpectedly left their positions right in the middle of a play-off push and their players performed well in those circumstances. Nantwich remain a confidence side, working hard but looking toothless up top they were transformed when Saunders scored and must remain hungry for more moments like that in the last few games of the season.
Teams
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, James Melhado, Joel Connolly, Kelvin Mellor (C), Ben Hockenhull, Paddy Kennedy (Alex Panter, 45), Kofi Moore (Callum Saunders, 61), Byron Harrison, Tom Pratt, Kai Evans, Matty Tweedley
Subs not used: Joe Robbins, Reece Vaughan, Jon Moran
Goal: Saunders (83)
Avro FC: Grant Shenton (C), Chiekh Thiam, David Fitzpatrick, Jack Morrow, James Dwyer, Geffry Ebhote, Harry Bunn, Sam Davidson (Brandon Barker, 58), Kyle Hawley, Liam Ellis (Malakai McKenzie, 59), AJ Warburton
Subs not used: Sheriff Njie, Sam Rathbone, Dillon Edmundson
Goal: Warburton (76)
Red card: Ellis (86)
Attendance: 405