By Liam Price, photos by Jonathan White
Wythenshawe Town came from a goal and a man down to win 3-1 over Nantwich Town at the Swansway Stadium.
There were first league starts for the Dabbers for George Cooper and Josh Langley, who made his Dabbers return in midweek.
It was a largely uneventful first half; the only chance of note in the first quarter of the game came when Cooper found Harry Bower down the left channel with a great ball, Bower attempted to dink over former Dabbers goalkeeper Greg Hall but didn’t get the required height on it and he pushed it away.
The Dabbers took the lead on the half hour when a George Cooper free kick was headed in by Josh Langley. It was a superb left footed delivery from Cooper, who notched another assist after setting up Bower in midweek. And for Langley, a first Dabbers goal early in his second spell at the club. He only got 1 in 87 appearances the first time round so will be hoping that’s not the only one this time.
Conor Lewis might have made it 1-1 but couldn’t bring a ball from Demi Rhami under his control to get a shot away in a good position.
In the second half, Wythenshawe emerged with a bit more purpose and immediately the Dabbers seemed to retreat into their shell.
A snapshot from a corner by Lewis was brilliantly turned around the post by Ben Garratt.
What should have been a pivotal moment came in the 54th minute. Kobe McWilliams was shown a straight red card for Wythenshawe for kicking the ball towards Joel Connolly while he was on the floor after a bit of wrestling match resulted in a free kick to Nantwich.
Mitigation comes as the ball was already by Connolly so wasn’t kicked ‘at’ him as such. It was undoubtedly a stupid thing to do but to most observers, including Jon Moran afterwards, perhaps a yellow card would have been sufficient.
But instead of swinging the momentum back to Nantwich the red card just seemed to spur the visitors on.
4 minutes after going down to 10 they equalised when Wealth Da Silva side-footed in from a ball from the left. He was as free as a bird in the 18-yard box, as was Dom Rouse next to him, as was Lewis on the edge of the box. 3 players who would have had a free shot at goal when they have a man less and exactly when the Dabbers should be trying to press home that advantage is simply unforgivable.
Byron Harrison was sent on for his 150th Dabbers appearance, but failed to throw his body at a mouth-watering low cross from the right from Cooper in the 72nd minute. A Gascoigne ’96 style lunge would surely have made it 2-1.
Harrison did try to get on the end of another cross but Hall was brave to come out and get something on it.
A draw from the position the game was in after 54 minutes would have been bad enough, but it got much worse in stoppage time.
A Wythenshawe attack seemed to have broken down in the penalty area; an unimpressed Langley let Demi Rhami know what he thought of a fall of his in the box. As he walked past him there was the faintest of touches on his leg. Rhami writhed and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Perhaps the only surprise was that he didn’t send Langley off given his track record in the game.
He made no mistake from the spot, finishing high past Garratt.
All the action around the penalty meant there was extra stoppage time for the Dabbers to try and salvage something from the game. Instead the 10 men used it to get a third goal.
Sub Joe Collins gave the ball away with an attempted ball into the box that was mishit. Then he saw Rhami nick the ball round him to put him through on goal where he finished unerringly.
It marked the first time Nantwich have lost this season in the league when scoring first, having previously won all 7 times when doing that. It was only Wythenshawe Town’s second win in their last 12 league games. It was only the second time they’d scored 3 in a game in the league all season. And they did all that with a player less, but crucially, and damningly for the Dabbers, they deserved to.
Teams
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, Aidy Roxburgh (Joe Collins, 80), Perry Bircumshaw (James Baillie, 80), Joel Connolly (C), Josh Langley, Paddy Kennedy, Oli Finney (Byron Harrison, 65), Joe Robbins, Alex Panter (Byron Moore, 75), George Cooper, Harry Bower (Rui Clarke-Phillips, 73)
Goal: Langley (31)
Wythenshawe Town: Greg Hall, Darius Smith, Nathan Whalley Kobe McWlliams, Dan Dolling, Jack Taylor, Demi Rhami, Astley Mulholland, Wealth Da Silva (Saj Elhassan, 86), Conor Lewis (Eddie Cooper, 67), Dom Rouse (C)
Subs not used: Spencer Cunliffe, Chris Dagnall, Jonny Nixon
Goals: Da Silva (58), Rhami (90+3 [pen], 90+8)
Red card: McWilliams (54)
Attendance: 373