By Liam Price
Trafford scored in both the second and second-to-last minutes to draw 2-2 against Nantwich Town at the Swansway Stadium.
The Dabbers made just one change from the midweek defeat to Clitheroe with Paddy Jarrett replacing Joe Robbins.
But it was the bottom-of-the-table Trafford who took the lead within 90 seconds of kick-off. Winning an early corner, it was crossed straight onto the head of Charlie Frost who rose practically unchallenged to put them ahead.
After shipping 9 goals without reply in their last match the Dabbers should have expected a hard and fast start from Trafford but just weren’t ready for it.
Alex Panter sliced a shot wide after good initial work to win the ball back, then a James Baillie deflected shot won a corner from which the Dabbers equalised.
A good delivery by Baillie saw Byron Harrison leap for it at the near post; Ollie Southern rose with him and it was Southern who turned it into his own net off the top of his head. Cian Donohue was stood on the line but couldn’t react quick enough to keep it out.
Panter came closer just past the half hour when he forced a good save from Harvey Bardsley with his leg at the near post.
A cross from the left from Harrison also fell the way of Panter, although on the stretch he couldn’t turn it towards goal.
Matt Davies for Trafford and Fenton Green for Nantwich couldn’t trouble either goal, but there was still time for another twist before half time.
Some intricate play on the edge of the box saw Jarrett find Panter, who was then tripped as he pulled his leg back to shoot by Southern, who completed a horror first half for himself with the own goal, penalty conceded and a yellow card too.
Harrison stepped up as he has done many times in green before and scored, although Bardsley did get a touch on it but couldn’t keep it out as he was diving past Byron’s spot kick which went down the middle.
Two crosses from the left from Baillie kept the Dabbers on the front foot at the start of the second half, one missed the head of Panter by a whisker and the other was headed over the bar by Paddy Kennedy.
A miscommunication at the back between Kennedy and Ben Garratt almost gave Trafford the equaliser as a touch from Kennedy with Garratt advancing took it away from the keeper and sub Bile Ahmed hit the post with the goal gaping, but it was from a narrow angle.
There were nothing more than half chances for a long time after, including a speculative effort from Joel Connolly that Bardsley dealt with. Connolly’s tireless determination to win the ball back in midfield created most of the Dabbers’ best moments in the game.
A burst of action came before the last 10 minutes. A pair of brilliant low crosses from Kyle Worsley were begging to be put in but no Trafford forwards were gambling to get an easy goal. The second one in particular drew a furious reaction from the Trafford dugout and rightly so as they hadn’t learned from the first one just a couple of minutes earlier.
In between those, Jordan Hodkin had a great chance to make it 3-1, found on the left side of the box he hit it well but Bardsley made his best save to deflect it onto the crossbar and away. A different situation from his miss at Clitheroe in midweek, this one owed more to great goalkeeping from the Blackpool loanee.
Another big moment came in the 84th minute. Panter down the right hand side looked for all the world to have been pulled down by the arm by Scott Sephton. There looked to be little cover as Panter bore down on the penalty area too, raising questions of whether it was denial of a goalscoring opportunity and therefore a red card. The referee didn’t even give a foul.
That seemed to spark off a chaotic last 10 minutes; Trafford headed on target from a long throw in, then Baillie missed the target from a free kick.
The visitors benefited most from the chaos as they levelled the score in the 89th minute. The influential Davies shot again, a bounce in front of Garratt made it harder but he should have gathered it, instead spilling it out to sub Mackena Bradshaw who clipped it over him and in.
In stoppage time, Ahmed was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Ben Hockenhull, an impressive achievement for a half time sub who’d already been giving a final warning for another challenge while on a yellow.
That left Hockenhull with a cut on his leg that bled through onto one of his socks and led to some needless back-and-forth between officials and bench over the procedure of needing to change the sock and when he was allowed to come back on. And then after all that it seemed not enough time was added on for the delay during stoppage time when both teams were looking to win, especially Trafford in their precarious situation.
Teams
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, Aidy Roxburgh (Perry Bircumshaw, 80), James Baillie, Fenton Green (Joe Robbins, 80), Ben Hockenhull, Paddy Kennedy, Alex Panter, Joel Connolly (C), Byron Harrison, Paddy Jarrett (Jordan Hodkin, 76), Byron Moore (Adam Rooney, 90+4)
Sub not used: Joe Collins
Goals: Southern (OG, 20), Harrison (pen, 45)
Trafford FC: Harvey Bardsley, Dana De Oliveira (Mackena Bradshaw, 69), Jack Sloan, Scott Sephton, Harry Norris (C), Ollie Southern, Brad Byrne (Prosper Imar, 81), Cian Donohue (Bile Ahmed, 46), Charlie Frost (Jack Higginbottom, 90+2), Matt Davies, Kyle Worsley
Sub not used: Henry Brown
Goals: Frost (2), Bradshaw (89)
Red card: Ahmed (90+1)
Attendance: 397