By Liam Price
Nantwich returned to winning ways with a hard-earned 1-0 victory away at Vauxhall Motors.
Byron Harrison and Joe Robbins were the 2 changes to the starting XI from the disappointing afternoon at Newcastle on Saturday.
Alex Panter made something out of nothing in the first 5 minutes, scrapping hard to win the ball in the box but placing his shot over the corner of post and bar.
Jawad Jebrin, who scored against the Dabbers in the two sides’ last meeting, almost did so again. He sneaked in unmarked from a free kick and at close range Ben Garratt did brilliantly to push his effort away.
Jebrin had another shot blocked as the Nantwich defence struggled with his late runs into the box.
But they were looking much more in form than the first half against Newcastle and took the lead 2 minutes short of the half hour.
A long ball from Fenton Green was the key; Byron Harrison battled for it with Adam Hughes and won to find himself clean through. As we’ve come to expect from him, he made no mistake with the finish in dinking it over Reece Trueman to make it 1-0. 3 years to the day since he joined Nantwich he’d found the net once again.
Nantwich had chances in the aftermath to extend the lead before half time. Panter, whose header in the build up to Harrison’s goal was crucial, missed the target with a header only a few yards out after Harrison had won a first header. Panter’s stooping made you think he’d have had a better chance of scoring if he’d gone with his foot.
A move a few minutes later almost produced what Jon Moran said ‘would have been goal of the season.’ A lengthy spell of possession with some sharp one-touch passing came to Harrison who had the vision to slide in Perry Bircumshaw who was making the underlapping run. He just pulled his effort wide of the far post with the keeper beaten.
Nick Rushton had scored 5 goals in October alone for Vauxhall but was off target late on in the first half.
The second half was a quieter affair as Nantwich largely bedded in and looked for opportunities on the counter attack.
One nearly came through Panter, who after being played in down the right by Joel Connolly tried to find sub Paddy Jarrett in the middle but just put the ball too far in front of him.
The home side made 4 subs in one go just short of the hour in a sign of their coaching staff’s displeasure with how their team were playing. One of the players on was Kevin Ellison, who first scored against Nantwich for Stockport in the Cheshire Senior Cup in 2002 and is still going strong. One of the players off was Joe Malkin, who played against Nantwich for the first time since leaving in 2022 after almost 100 games in green.
Michael Burkey and Rushton missed the target for the Motormen as they continued to labour to fire on all cylinders.
Garratt’s only real save of the second half came after a minor scramble in the box resulted in Ellison backheeling towards goal but Ben was alert to smother the attempt.
The rest of the game was the same picture with Vauxhall wildly off target with shots and crosses. You do wonder if all their efforts in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Bury 3 days prior, and the size of that occasion with a huge crowd, had taken quite a bit out of them physically and, perhaps more importantly, mentally.
Regardless, this was a great way to bounce back for Nantwich, who followed probably the worst away performance of the season with probably the best.
Teams
Vauxhall Motors: Reece Trueman, Josh Solomon-Davies (Conor Harwood, 58), Jordan Deer, Vita Mbolokele, Adam Hughes, Finlay Heath (Michael Burkey, 58), Jawad Jebrin (Max Harrison, 58), Ben Holmes (C), Joe Malkin (Kevin Ellison, 58), Nick Rushton, Kyle Sambor (Nathan Corness, 71)
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, Aidy Roxburgh, Perry Bircumshaw (Josh Williams, 46), Kelvin Mellor (C), Ben Hockenhull, Paddy Kennedy, Joe Robbins (Byron Moore, 87), Fenton Green (Paddy Jarrett, 57), Byron Harrison, Joel Connolly, Alex Panter (Harry Bower, 71)
Sub not used: Jon Moran
Goal: Harrison (28)
Attendance: 227