Written by Liam Price, photos by Jonathan White
Nantwich Town’s dream run in the FA Trophy was brought to an end by National League Solihull Moors who won 5-1 at the Armco Arena.
Scott Butler was ill and Joe Pigott was cup-tied as the Dabbers brought in Sean Lawton and Frazer Cookson.
The home side almost struck inside the first five minutes. Kian Ryley was in too much space and was found with a throw in, he turned and hit the outside of the post with a crisp strike, Scott Moloney was close but may not have got there.
Alex Whitmore fired over a couple of half efforts but there was no doubt the National League team were strongly growing into the game.
Simple enough 1-2s and slick movement were undoing the Dabbers in the final third time and again, Jack Stevens slid wide from a narrow angle after Nathan Okome was caught in behind.
Cookson, on his first Nantwich start, was called into last ditch action a couple of times to keep the scores level with clearances.
Joe Sbarra, the Solihull captain, was running things smartly from midfield, and a deflected shot from him had to be palmed behind by Moloney.
Another corner brought the opening goal. Stevens powered in a header that Moloney couldn’t get enough on and it just sneaked in.
The Dabbers’ only shot on target in the first half was a long-range free kick attempt from Courtney Meppen-Walters, who had spotted Nick Hayes off his line but he was back swiftly to catch it.
It was lovely final third football from the side 4th in the National League, Okome and Moloney having to be on their guard to stop the lead being extended.
Meppen-Walters headed over a free kick but 1-0 was a fair reflection on the game as it had been.
Unfortunately, the second half got off to the worst possible start for the Dabbers. In its second minute, a misjudgement at the back from Okome saw him pull down his man. Sean Lawton may have been covering but it was not enough to convince the referee that it was not the denial of a goalscoring opportunity and Okome was shown a straight red card, the first of his entire career.
You feared that that moment would effectively kill the game as a contest, and this was sadly borne out less than 10 minutes later. Kian Ryley capitalised on more poor play at the back and had an easy task to slot it home. Given his finishing in the rest of the game, Ryley must have been extremely grateful to have that one put on a plate for him.
He could have had another three in the minutes after that goal, firing over with the goal gaping and hitting the bar with another, and the side netting with a third. If he can improve on taking those chances the young player is surely destined for bigger things.
Ryley was involved again for Solihull’s third, cutting back to Morgan Owen who swept the ball home tidily. Owen was given the home team’s man of the match at the end of the game.
Sbarra and sub Max Martin missed chances as the home side were opening the 10 men up almost at will.
Meppen-Walters was the Dabbers’ best attacking threat from centre-back, and there was some surprise when he lined up a free kick outside the box and forced a save from Hayes off his left foot.
In the final 10 minutes, Solihull made it 4. Another sub, Tyler Bruck, finished calmly to put that bit of icing on a comfortable win.
Almost straight from the kick-off, Nantwich got their moment that they had deserved. Paddy Kay swept one into the top corner from outside the box, surely the goal of the game that gave the exceptional away following something to cheer about. Fitting too that it should come from Kay who had appeared in all 7 of the Dabbers’ FA Trophy games this season and contributed a goal to the superb win over York in the last round.
Joel Connolly fired over as the Dabbers suddenly looked as if they’d let the shackles off. Another blow was to follow, however. Cookson, who never shirks a challenge, threw himself into one with what was deemed to be excessive force by the referee, who handed out another straight red. Without watching replays, there is an argument that both reds were ‘letter-of-the-law’ reds, but the discretion of a referee should also play a part in any decision making and it feels as if that was lacking. Cookson’s loan spell at the Dabbers could effectively be over now with a 3-game ban for what was a first major offence late in a game that had been dead for 40 minutes, and as far as could be seen did not cause any lasting damage to a Solihull player.
Moloney made another decent save, before the final goal came via Finn Howell. 5 goals from 5 different goalscorers for a Solihull side who will be in contention for a spot in League 2 if they keep going as they are.
An incredible goal-line clearance by Lawton in stoppage time was proof that the Dabbers were never giving up, they had been beaten by an 82-place higher team playing good football, and the circumstances of the game.
The final word must go to that away following. 305 of the 808 people in the stadium were Dabbers, that’s almost 40% of the attendance at a National League ground. The chanting was relentless from before the game to the end, sometimes tongue-in-cheek and always passionate. In 5 years of writing these reports that is by a distance the best away support for a Nantwich team. A bad result but a good day to cap off an FA Trophy run that will live long in the memory.
Teams
Solihull Moors: Nick Hayes, Joe Newton (Max Martin, 68), Joe Sbarra, Gus Mafuta, Jack Stevens, Richard Stearman, Jay Benn (Tyler Bruck, 68), Morgan Owen, Finn Howell, Kian Ryley, Alex Whitmore
Subs not used: Callum Maycock, Josh Kelly, James Clarke, Jon Benton, Aaron Flahavan
Goals: Stevens (28), Ryley (56), Owen (67), Bruck (82), Howell (90+1’)
Nantwich Town: Scott Moloney, Jacob Edwards, Sean Lawton, Nathan Okome, Courtney Meppen-Walters, Frazer Cookson, Paddy Kay, Joel Connolly, Byron Harrison (Callum Saunders, 75), Jake Kirby (Akiel Raffie, 68), Kai Evans (Amir Tavakoli, 83)
Subs not used: Perry Bircumshaw, Danny Roberts
Goal: Kay (84)
Red cards: Okome (47), Cookson (87)
Attendance: 808 (305 away)