By Liam Price, photos by Jonathan White
Nantwich Town and Wythenshawe Town shared the points after a chaotic final 10 minutes ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Dabbers had to do without top scorer Kai Evans who was ill, so Kofi Moore made his first start since coming back to the club on loan.
It was the in-form visitors who made the much stronger start, a quick free kick played in Chinedu Uche who miscued his shot.
There was then a couple of excellent saves by Ben Garratt, first to deny Alex Panter and then an even better one from Wythy top scorer George Boyd.
Moore got onto the ball in an attacking area for the first time and drew a good block with his shot.
Boyd slashed another one wide, but Moore was getting more joy for the Dabbers as he drove towards the goal line and looked to pick out Byron Harrison but a fine interception stopped a near certain goal.
It was Moore again who forced former Dabber Greg Hall into his first save as Nantwich survived the early scares and started to land a few blows of their own.
Tom Pratt shot wide but the biggest chance of the half was to fall to the away team. Their captain Luke Nock, also a former Dabber, saw the ball break to him in the box but he managed to hit the post when the goal looked a dead cert.
In the second half, Matty Tweedley had the ball taken off him in a dangerous area but Garratt was there to sweep up any threat of a goal.
Luke Merrill fired wide from distance, then Darren Thornton hit a free kick powerfully but into the wall from an equally long way out.
In truth it felt like the game was fizzling out to a goalless draw with little to write about other than growing anger towards the officiating. It was going to take a mistake for someone to score, in fact it turned out to be two.
As we headed into the last 10 minutes, a Dabbers corner was played in and touched away. Troy Bourne picked up the second ball, swivelling and firing back in. Paddy Kennedy stuck out a leg and deflected it goalwards, where Hall let it through his hands and over the line before the defender could clear, as signalled by the assistant ref wildly waving his flag and leading some to think a foul or offside had been given. But it was Kennedy’s goal.
Just after the kick-off came the next twist. Thornton had been booked on 74 minutes for a tactical foul that no one could question. He was penalised again on 81 minutes for a trip and shown a second yellow. It was in Wythenshawe Town’s half and there were players around both him and the player fouled. It once again goes into the harsh category, not as stridently wrong as Bourne’s red against Hednesford but still debatable. 3 red cards in 4 games is not a reflection of this team’s character but rather a reflection of over-zealous officiating.
The Dabbers’ stretched squad meant that briefly Jon Moran was going to sub himself on for the first time since becoming manager to try and see out the game as part of the 10 men, but those plans were scuppered 4 minutes later.
In not too different a style to how they conceded, Wythenshawe’s equaliser also came from a knock in at a corner, the first header won in dominant style, it was then flicked in by Christie Grogan.
The breathless action continued as the visitors looked to turn it fully on its head. Tom Pratt fired well wide for Nantwich before Domaine Rouse got a cross wrong and Garratt caught.
Garratt was on hand again to make a vital save from sub Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro in what must go down as the keeper’s best performance of the season so far.
There was still time for Moore to pull off a great bit of skill but not quite have the end product as Hall held his shot as the game ended in a draw that will have frustrated both teams for different reasons.
The next home game for Nantwich is against Kidsgrove Athletic this Saturday (11th January) at 3pm.
Teams
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, James Melhado, Daz Thorton, Kelvin Mellor, Troy Bourne (C), Paddy Kennedy, Nathan Sandison (Joe Robbins, 52), Matty Tweedley, Byron Harrison (Lewis Bailey, 45), Tom Pratt, Kofi Moore
Subs not used: Reece Vaughan, Jon Moran, Perry Bircumshaw
Goal: Kennedy (80)
Red card: Thornton (81)
Wythenshawe Town: Greg Hall, Luke Merrill, Matthew Liptrott, Niall Fallon, Sam Sheridan, Christie Grogan, Chinedu Uche (Ryan Morton, 45), Rodney Ajayi (Domaine Rouse, 69), Alex Panter (Jean Louis Akpa-Akpro, 71), George Boyd, Luke Nock (C), (Eddie Servuts, 80)
Sub not used: Lee Wilshaw
Goal: Grogan (85)
Attendance: 290