Nantwich Town suffered a disappointing Boxing Day defeat to Stafford Rangers, going down 3-0 at Marston Road, being ‘out-thought, out-run and out-battled’ according to manager Ritchie Sutton.
Kaiman Anderson cheekily flicked the ball wide from an Alex Kiwomya pull back, it would have been an impudent way to open the scoring for the hosts who had started brightly.
Tom Booth was called into action shortly after, making a great sprawling save from Joe Willis’ drive from distance that was definitely goalbound.
The Dabbers hadn’t got going, and were rightly behind on 16 minutes. A free kick curled in from the left was headed in easily by James O’Neill, too easily as he was unmarked at a very close distance to the goal, some breakdown in communication and organisation costing the defence dear.
Tom Scully’s snapshot hit an unsighted Cameron Belford in the Stafford goal a couple of minutes later, he didn’t know much about it but it was about the most action he saw in the entire match.
Former Dabber Callum Saunders almost doubled the lead with a near post effort that was superbly tipped over by Booth, were it not for him the game would have been dead inside 20 minutes.
Dan Cockerline and Byron Harrison had half-chances that didn’t trouble the Stafford goal, and Nantwich could count themselves lucky to only be 1 down at half time.
A double injury blow came either side of half time, Curtis Morrison forced off with a hamstring issue and Matt Bell with a foot injury that he couldn’t shake off despite trying to start the second half.
To literally add insult to injuries, Stafford did get their second goal just 6 minutes into the second half, a heavily deflected shot fell right into the path of an unmarked Anderson who had the simplest of tasks to finish from close range.
Cockerline almost halved the deficit on the hour mark, catching Belford off his line and poking over him but seeing the ball cannon off the post.
To well and truly show it wasn’t the Dabbers’ day, Stafford made it 3 just after this. Booth, who’d been peerless in this game and throughout his loan spell, had a moment to forget when he mishit a pass out straight to Anderson who again could finish easily to send most of the excellent 1,200 strong crowd into rapture.
The most concerning of Nantwich’s injuries came 15 minutes from the end, Cockerline fell awkwardly and was forced off holding his arm in an uncomfortable position, raising great concerns again about the shoulder that has been an issue for him in the past. By that point, Ritchie Sutton had used all 3 subs so the Dabbers had to see out the rest of the match with 10 players.
Perry Bircumshaw hit the side netting but also finished the match in pain, to top off an unexpected and unwelcome showing after what had been a wonderful run of form.
Teams
Stafford Rangers: Cameron Belford, Andy Burns, Akeem Hinds, Jack Baxter, Luis Morrison, James O’Neill, Alex Kiwomya (Joe Kenton, 79), Tom Tonks, Kaiman Anderson (Jaiden White, 79), Callum Saunders (Ethan Stewart, 90), Joe Willis
Subs not used: Joe Dunne, Alex-Ray Harvey
Goals: O’Neill (17), Anderson (52, 61)
Nantwich Town: Tom Booth, Harry Nevin, Perry Bircumshaw, Troy Bourne, Jon Moran, Curtis Morrison (Mwiya Malumo, 38), James Caton, Matt Bell (Caspar Hughes, 47), Dan Cockerline, Tom Scully, Byron Harrison (Levi Chiduku, 62)
Subs not used: Jack Sherratt, Sean Lawton
Attendance: 1,222