By Liam Price, photos by Jonathan White
Nantwich were well beaten at home again as Bury ran out 4-1 victors at the Swansway Stadium.
Jon Moran made 2 changes from the side that drew at Darlaston on Saturday with Byron Harrison and James Baillie coming into the team.
The game started in torrential rain, so much so you struggled to see the players on the far side.
It understandably affected the quality of football out there but it was Bury who adjusted to it best.
A clever dummy on the Dabbers left allowed a ball to go through to Rustam Stepans who finished it expertly into the bottom corner in only the 10th minute.
That was the only thing of note to happen in the first quarter. Bebeto Gomes then had the awareness to see a ball from Roxburgh that was trying to bisect the defence and cut it out. The run from Roxburgh was the first real Nantwich positive.
Garratt spilled a low shot in the hideous conditions but it was cleared ahead of him before anyone in white could pounce.
But Nantwich were starting to grow into the game and finally getting some decent spells of possession.
Roxburgh wasted a shot but Alex Panter had a better one, at last getting some space and using it to charge into the Bury box and fire wide from a not dissimilar position to which he scored against Darlaston in the last game.
Then the hammer blow. Just as the Dabbers were looking slightly on top, the Shakers struck again. A cross from the right wasn’t sufficiently cleared and Stepans was there to sidefoot it home on the volley. It was a smart finish.
He nearly had his hat trick on the stroke of half time, this time Garratt was able to get something on the shot and tip it behind for a corner.
It didn’t take long into the second half for the game to be taken fully out of reach of Nantwich. After a Panter cross was put behind by Gomes and Roxburgh saw a powerful shot blocked, Bury went up the other end with Gomes laying the ball off for former Dabber Kai Evans to curl in off the crossbar. There’s a number of goals he scored for Nantwich that looked similar to that one.
DJ Pedro couldn’t guide a header on target, before what looked very much like a cross from the Bury left very nearly went all the way in, hitting the crossbar perhaps with a touch from Garratt.
Evans nearly burst through to score again but a stretching challenge on him was enough to put him off and get the faintest of touches on the ball, as Bury asked for a penalty Pedro saw his shot on the rebound saved by Garratt.
But the Welshman was not to be denied his second much longer. With the ball played to him in the box, the presence of Oli Finney forced him past the far post but he had the vision and quality to execute a perfect backheel across Garratt and into the far corner. A finish that if it had been scored in the Premier League rather than the Northern Premier would go around the world.
There was just an overwhelming sense of deflation for Nantwich for most of that second half. For the second home game running they were being run ragged by a far superior opponent. It is going to take one of Lower Breck or Bury slipping up, or someone else stepping up, to prevent it being those two who get promoted as things stand.
But there was something to cheer about for the Dabbers late on. A consolation came from the left foot of Callum Saunders who finished past Mitchell Allen after being cleverly played in by Harry Bower. That was Saunders’ first goal since the superb lob against Kidsgrove in August.
The crowd of 1,045 was the biggest attendance at the Swansway Stadium for a league game since August 2011, a 14-year high. Credit must go to all of them for braving truly atrocious conditions for a large chunk of the match. Credit must also go to those who helped the occasion run smoothly, from the extra food and drink facilities to the stewards.
The next home game for Nantwich is on Saturday 15th November against Shifnal Town. The game will kick off at 3.03pm as a gesture of support for the National League’s 3UP campaign.
Teams
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, Aidy Roxburgh, Joel Connolly (C), Oli Finney (Joe Collins, 73), Ben Hockenhull, Paddy Kennedy, Paddy Jarrett (Harry Bower, 72), Joe Robbins, Byron Harrison (Callum Saunders, 63), Alex Panter, James Baillie (Byron Moore, 58)
Sub not used: Louis Melling
Goal: Saunders (78)
Bury FC: Mitchell Allen, Bebeto Gomes (Josh Gregory, 81), Reece Kendall, James Neild, Louis Isherwood, Oscer Threlkeld (C) (Bobby Carroll, 58), Rustam Stepans (Owen Barker, 81), Regan Riley (Callum Spooner, 77), DJ Pedro (Tyler James, 73), Cam Fogerty, Kai Evans
Goals: Stepans (10, 41), Evans (51, 72)
Attendance: 1,045