By Liam Price
Fellow play-off sides Nantwich Town and Vauxhall Motors played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at the Swansway Stadium.
There were 2 Nantwich changes from the game at Avro a fortnight ago, with Joe Robbins in for Tom Pratt and Perry Bircumshaw in for Tyler Hill. Byron Harrison also made his 100th Nantwich appearance.
The main action of the first half was whether Nantwich might have been awarded a penalty. There were 2 shouts, one on Bircumshaw and another on Kai Evans. The referee was unmoved on both.
The first shot in anger came from Dom Hoppe for Vauxhall but it flew well over the bar.
A lot of the first half was bits of attacking that just lacked a final ball or was stopped by good defending. James Melhado was responsible for a block at one end before a Robbins ball just missed the head of Callum Saunders at the other.
Nick Rushton looked to add to his 9 goals so far this season but could only hit tamely at Ben Garratt.
A series of half moments brought the half to an end. Another cross was agonisingly close to Saunders, and Evans was being well marshalled by the Motors defence.
Harrison looked to mark his century with a goal but couldn’t get a solid touch on a square ball played into him. Jawad Jebrin then narrowly cleared the cross bar with what was definitely a cross on the stroke of half time.
The second half carried on in largely the same fashion, not necessarily a lengthy highlights reel but still a lot to enjoy about watching two evenly matched and good quality sides.
Josh Quarless struck straight at Garratt early in that second period. It was Jon Moran who blinked first in terms of substitutions, bringing on Nathan Sandison for Robbins.
He made a difference almost immediately, little bits of skill and craft that perhaps Nantwich had been lacking to that point.
Evans blazed over in the box from a difficult angle in what was the Dabbers’ biggest opening yet on 63 minutes, it was on his weaker foot but with the season he’s having he may have hoped to get it on target.
Former Dabber Paddy Kay was involved in an off-the-ball incident that saw him booked. Perhaps sensing that was a lucky escape, Vauxhall subbed him off just 2 minutes later.
But it was the visitors that broke through on 70 minutes. A minor hesitation from Troy Bourne let in Jawad Jebrin, who just about managed to squeeze it through the onrushing Garratt.
Moran’s response was to bring on Tom Pratt and once again a positive impact was made from the bench. A free kick into the box was directed towards goal by Harrison but scrambled away.
He’d had his moments but Evans was being nullified better than perhaps any team had managed in the last couple of months, credit must go to Vauxhall right-back Vita Mbolokele for being dialled in to his task from minute one.
The Motors played their ultimate trump card in bringing on Kevin Ellison to help close out the win. 9 of the Dabbers matchday squad hadn’t even been born when Ellison made his senior debut. He was involved in a corner that was just bundled wide for Vauxhall.
Before Saturday, every single time Vauxhall had taken the lead in an NPL West game this season, they had gone on to win.
In a game short on goalmouth action it looked like Vauxhall were going to close out another one. But on 84 minutes the subs combined in brilliant style. A long ball by Garratt was knocked down by Harrison to Pratt, who played it to Sandison. The midfielder then played a superb back heel to Pratt who flashed a snapshot into the bottom corner. It was a wonderfully worked goal, and Pratt’s first since the FA Trophy win at Bishop Auckland at the start of September.
Suddenly it was then all Nantwich and Vauxhall were really on the ropes. A third penalty shout was waved away, before a newly energised Evans went on one of his trademark runs all the way to the touchline before finding the side netting.
The last shot of the game was from the boot of Sandison and was deflected over, but a draw was probably the right result. A much better showing by the Dabbers at the start of the always crucial Christmas period, especially so this time when you see how tight the top of the table is looking now.
The next home game for the Dabbers is against Bootle on Saturday 21st December at 3pm.
Teams
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, James Melhado, Perry Bircumshaw, Kelvin Mellor, Troy Bourne (C), Paddy Kennedy, Callum Saunders (Tom Pratt, 71), Matty Tweedley (Ali Hayder, 88), Byron Harrison, Joe Robbins (Nathan Sandison, 56), Kai Evans
Subs not used: Courtney Meppen-Walters, Tyler Hill
Goal: Pratt (84)
Vauxhall Motors: Jack Atkinson, Vita Mbolokele, Ben Dufton-Kelly, Adam Rooney, Adam Hughes, Dom Hoppe, Jawad Jebrin, Paddy Kay (Jake Kirby-Reed, 68), Connor Rankin (C), Nick Rushton (William Dunne, 61), Josh Quarless (Kevin Ellison, 78)
Subs not used: George Nugent, Will Mountfield
Goal: Jebrin (70)
Attendance: 476