Nantwich Town grabbed their first away win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Stalybridge Celtic at Bower Fold.
Dahrius Waldron’s header straight at Louis Gray from a corner was the start of a pattern from Celtic, who troubled the Dabbers all day from set plays.
After Joel Grant was forced off early with injury, Stalybridge kept probing for the opening goal, Moses Yoak parting the Dabbers wall but planting his free kick wide.
Stalybridge’s supreme defensive record meant it was going to take something great to breach that defence, cross field balls that weren’t leading to much were not the answer for Nantwich but there was little threat from the home side either.
Another header from Stalybridge had Gray worried as it dropped wide, the tempo was slowly ramping up as the half went on.
It reached its peak when Celtic took the lead five minutes before half-time. A looping ball into the box wasn’t cleared, maybe due to some miscommunication, and Theo Bailey-Jones pounced, firing in the loose ball from the six yard line.
Ritchie Sutton was disappointed with the Dabbers’ reaction to going a goal down at Atherton last mid-week, in this game it was the opposite. A-Jay Leitch-Smith had a half chance after being slid in by Heath, from a narrow angle he didn’t really test former Dabber Greg Hall.
AJ more than tested him in stoppage time. A solid enough pass down the left channel this time found Leitch-Smith again, with no-one really to pass to he saw the ball drop invitingly and drove it wonderfully into the far corner past a despairing Hall. That’s 2 goals in 3 games for AJ who is stepping up through the middle in the absence of Dan Cockerline.
Another moment of true quality was to follow 7 minutes into the second half. A free kick on the left edge of the box could not have been better placed for Sean Cooke, and as so often he delivered again, curling it over the wall and in off the post. That was the 1000th goal that Nantwich have scored in the history of the Northern Premier League.
While Stalybridge had that fine defensive record before this game, of more worry was that they had failed to score more than one goal in a game all season. That nearly changed on the hour mark when the bar was struck with a close range header after Gray didn’t get a good contact on his punch to clear a corner.
As the home side tried to pile on the pressure, chances presented themselves for the Dabbers to kill the game on the counter. Cooke had the best of them, bounding through after picking up on a slack backpass and seeing a low shot stopped by the leg of Hall who hadn’t committed himself and stayed big.
The last chance came courtesy of sub Shaun Miller, trying to lob Hall after being smartly played in, it just lacked the height to beat the keeper, but that was enough to see the game out, combined with a great defensive effort from corners and long throws from Bircumshaw, Moran, Stair and Troy Bourne on his 200th Dabbers appearance.
Teams
Stalybridge Celtic: Greg Hall, Tom Miller (C), Louis Danquah, Luke Hinsley, Dahrius Waldron, Moses Yoak (Godwin Abadaki, 68), Theo Bailey-Jones (Aaron Grewai, 69), Harry Benns, Raul Correia, Domaine Rouse, Cameron Darkwah (Ethan Padden, 79)
Subs not used: Matty Liptrott, Tinashe Chakwana
Goal: Bailey-Jones (41)
Nantwich Town: Louis Gray, Troy Bourne, Perry Bircumshaw, Joel Stair (C), Jon Moran, Matt Bell, Connor Heath, Tom Scully (Jack Sherratt, 68), A-Jay Leitch-Smith, Sean Cooke (Shaun Miller, 80), Joel Grant (Sean Lawton, 11)
Subs not used: Joe Mwasile, Ritchie Sutton
Goals: Leitch-Smith (45+2), Cooke (52)
Attendance: 344