Written by Adam Bateman, photos by Peter Robinson
Marske United defeated Nantwich Town 2-1 at the Swansway Stadium to claim a crucial 3 points in the relegation battle.
Gary Taylor-Fletcher called the character of the Dabbers squad into question afterwards, saying ‘we’ve got 2 or 3 leaders but the rest are just accepting mediocrity.’
After a quite dramatic late draw away to Liversedge, and ten days of preparation for this game, Ritchie Sutton and Taylor-Fletcher rang the changes to the starting team, with four changes.
Caspar Hughes (pictured below), Jonathan Moran, James Caton and Ivan Urvantev all made it into the starting line up for this big match at the foot of the table.
Both sides were coming into this looking to get back to winning ways, and it was the home side who started the brightest, looking to trouble the away defence.
However the first real chance fell to the visitors, as Donald Chimalilo managed to find himself in space out wide down the left hand side, he cut into the penalty area, and rounded Tom Booth, but his pull back to try to find a team-mate was thankfully cleared, much to the relief of the home supporters.
The action continued as both sides looked to break the deadlock and gain those much needed three points, as James Caton, who was looking dangerous early on, saw his curling shot deflected wide for a corner.
The recalled duo of Urvantev and Caton were causing the Marske defence all kinds of bother in the first twenty minutes, and it was the Moldovan who was next to try his luck, as he produced a bit of magic with a tricky run from out wide, and he made it into the penalty box, only to see his shot go narrowly wide of Oliver Swan’s near post.
At this juncture, it only seemed a matter of time before the Dabbers would score, as next up was James Caton again, this time his header went wide of the far post.
Against the run of play though, Marske managed to grab a goal, as on the counter attack, they played the ball out wide, down their right hand flank, and a lovely cross was met at the far post, by an unmarked Jacob Day.
He sprinted off in jubilation, much to the dismay of the home fans.
The attacking play of Marske was coming to the fore after that goal, and it was Chimalilo who managed to beat Caspar Hughes and was closing in on goal, before the Dabbers defence managed to stop him on this occasion.
Sadly though, that was a warning that went unheeded, as Chimalilo ran straight though the home defence, and very calmly slotted the ball to the side of an advancing Tom Booth, to double the away side’s lead just after half an hour.
Despite some penetrating attempts to break though the away side’s defence that is how it remained at half time.
Just before the second half got underway, Sutton and Taylor-Fletcher decided changes were required, as Hughes and Dawson made way for Perry Bircumshaw and Ryan Morton.
That seemed to help, as just a few minutes into the second half, from a Tom Scully free-kick, Dan Cockerline did very well to head the ball into Troy Bourne’s path, but at full stretch, he just couldn’t connect with it.
At the other end, Chimalilo was putting in an outstanding performance, not giving the Dabbers defence a moments peace or rest, and he ran past Bircumshaw, then his pass to Jacob Day was turned towards the home goal, but thankfully on this occasion, the shot went just wide.
This was turning out to be a very tough encounter for the Dabbers, in a game that they really needed to win.
The ever dangerous James Caton was doing his best to rally the troops, as he once again had a chance, but just couldn’t get his shot on target.
The coaches of Nantwich decided to make one final change heading into the final twenty minutes as Sean Lawton was replaced by Byron Harrison (pictured below) in a bid to be more attacking and to seek to put the away defence under more pressure, and to find a way back into the game.
In what was fast becoming a one man show for Nantwich, James Caton soon after had another shot, this time one that went wide, and it was fast looking like one of those nights when nothing would go right.
Then with six minutes to go, there was hope, as from a Troy Bourne cross, which caused a fair amount of panic in the away defence, it was Steven Hewitt who lashed his shot into roof of the net, for his first goal for his new club.
This seemed to give new hope, and a renewed determination to try to at least get a draw from this game for the Dabbers.
The home side launched attack after attack to try to find that elusive late equalising goal, just as they had done against Liversedge, but sadly, this time it was not meant to be, and the win went to Marske.
The next game for Nantwich is away to Morpeth Town on 25th of February, with the next home game on the 4th of March against Hyde United.
Teams
Nantwich Town: Thomas Booth, Caspar Hughes (Perry Bircumshaw, 45), Sean Lawton (Byron Harrison, 68), Troy Bourne, Jonathan Moran, Thomas Scully, James Caton, Steven Hewitt, Daniel Cockerline, Ivan Urvantev, Adam Dawson (Ryan Morton, 45)
Substitutes not used: Myiwa Malumo, Jack Sherratt
Goal: Hewitt (84)
Marske United: Oliver Swan, Connor Smith, Jordan Emery, Jason Kennedy, Andrew May, Ethan Bojang, Josh MacDonald, George Horbury, Jacob Day, Edward Church, Donald Chimalilo
Substitutes not used: Niah Payne, Adam Boyes
Goals: Day (26), Chimalilo (37)
Attendance: 341