By Liam Price, photos by Jonathan White
Nantwich Town made it into the FA Cup Third Round Qualifying with a 3-1 win over Trafford FC at the Swansway Stadium.
Ben Hockenhull was suspended but Kelvin Mellor was back just in time to come straight into the back 3, in the Dabbers’ only change from the win last Saturday at Ossett. There was also a first squad place for young goalkeeper Louis Melling, the latest to come through the Nantwich youth system and be given his chance by Jon Moran.
There was an early blow as Fenton Green was forced off in just the 4th minute. He’d left the pitch at Ossett with a knock and that had clearly reared its head again early on here, Alex Panter coming on to replace him.
Cian Donohue had the first shot of the game but didn’t catch it right and Ben Garratt could make a simple save.
The Dabbers took the lead in the 10th minute and it was the early sub Panter who was the man to make the breakthrough. Good work on the right by Aidy Roxburgh made the goal, and Panter finished with aplomb past Sam Booth to make it 1-0.
Garratt made a rare error when mis-hitting a clearance to Jerome Wright, the Nantwich keeper just about got himself back in place to save his resulting low shot.
This lifted Trafford spirits, though, and they equalised just after 20 minutes when a Matthew Davies shot was parried by Garratt into the path of Mackena Bradshaw who finished high into the net. There wasn’t much the keeper did wrong on this occasion, more a case of Bradshaw showing good instincts to follow in after the first effort. The Trafford fans, who were noisy throughout with an undercurrent of northern humour, now really had something to shout about.
Panter nearly grabbed his second minutes later but Booth, the brother of Crewe and former Dabbers keeper Tom, made a fine reaction save at his near post.
Byron Moore hit the crossbar with a fierce drive as the home side pushed on and looked to regain the lead.
And they did just that 4 minutes from the break, a dink across headed in at close range by Paddy Kennedy for his first goal of the season. He’d missed with a header a couple of minutes earlier but was very much on target this time.
Moore almost got the second half off to the perfect start, breaking the offside trap and running in behind he was brilliantly challenged by Theo Farquarson, surely a goalsaving tackle.
Trafford thought they’d equalised in the 49th minute but the play was pulled back for a throw in after the assistant ruled the ball had gone out in the immediate build up.
Nantwich increased their lead shortly before the hour mark, with Panter the scorer again via a tremendous finish high past Sam Booth. After the three or four months at the end of last season to get the feet under the table he seems to really be settling into his groove as a Nantwich player.
Perry Bircumshaw flashed an effort across the face of goal shortly after as Nantwich looked to end the tie for certain.
Byron Harrison went down in the box but saw the referee wave away the shouts, before Joel Connolly hit low straight at Booth.
Amazingly, sub Paddy Jarrett then saw himself denied a first Nantwich goal by the same defender who stopped Moore, Farquarson, and in almost identical circumstances. It’s rare to see one tackle like this in a game, let alone two, and by the same player too.
The rest of the action was short of real chances so it remained job well done for the Dabbers. The draw will be on Monday and the next tie on Saturday 27th September. The next home game for Nantwich is against Cammell Laird in the Cheshire Senior Cup on Tuesday 23rd September at 7.45pm.
Teams
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, Aidy Roxburgh, Perry Bircumshaw, Kelvin Mellor (C), Paddy Kennedy, Josh Williams (Junior Brown, 82), Joe Robbins, Fenton Green (Alex Panter, 4), Byron Harrison (Callum Saunders, 86), Joel Connolly, Byron Moore (Paddy Jarrett, 75)
Subs not used: Louis Melling, Jon Moran
Goals: Panter (10, 58), Kennedy (41)
Trafford FC: Sam Booth, Sean Higgins, Jack Higginbottom (Kieron Molloy, 63), Theo Farquarson, Harry Norris (C), Cian Donohue (Kingston Fligg, 73), Josh Wood (Ben Woods, 31), Mackena Bradshaw (Harrison Bickerton, 78), Matthew Davies, Jerome Wright (Henry Brown, 72), Campbell Reid
Subs not used: Hilal Khan, Brad Byrne
Goal: Bradshaw (21)
Attendance: 450