By Liam Price, photos by Jonathan White
Witton Albion took the spoils on Boxing Day with a 2-0 win over Nantwich at the U Lock It Stadium.
Paddy Kennedy was unavailable but was replaced by the returning Perry Bircumshaw, while Callum Saunders came in for Byron Harrison.
One of the biggest protagonists in the game was the mist, which lay heavy upon the pitch throughout and made visibility tough.
Witton started with a blitzkrieg the like of which hadn’t been seen in Northwich since 1941. They took the lead with their first shot of the game on 8 minutes.
It came from Nick Hepple, who had only signed for the Albion on Christmas Eve. He let fly from the edge of the box and a sizeable deflection off a Dabbers head took it past the helpless Ben Garratt to mark his debut in style.
The home side were firing on all cylinders, a cross from James Baillie was caught by Garratt. Summing up the differences in mentality early on, Damola Sotana comfortably won a 50/50 in the middle of the park before his cross was cleared.
It was 2-0 on 18 minutes. The Dabbers were cut to shreds by Witton’s directness once again as Joel Bailey finished off a flowing move. Remarkably Witton’s last 9 goals had now been scored by 9 different goalscorers. With a Baillie and a Bailey causing all sorts of problems, the travelling Dabbers fans could have been forgiven for pulling out a bottle of Baileys with what they were seeing.
There was almost a third goal a couple of minutes later as a shot was flashed wide of Garratt’s far corner. No team had started a game better against Nantwich all season and the players in blue simply weren’t ready for it.
The Dabbers keeper had to parry away another effort as the onslaught began to subside slightly. It was at that point that Jon Moran made a tactical switch that saw the unfortunate Nathan Sandison sacrificed for Byron Harrison, who after being left out of the team at least partly to give him a rest now found himself on after half an hour.
A couple of half openings appeared for Nantwich as the change in formation steadied the ship, one for Tom Pratt just got away from him.
Sadly, just before half time the mountain to climb was made even steeper for Nantwich. A ball looped towards the back post was claimed by Louie Fallon, who was caught by Callum Saunders. Referee Barry Lamb barrelled straight in with a straight red card, although with the mist it was not possible to tell he’d been sent off until he’d started the lonely trudge towards the tunnel.
Replays show a high point of contact on the goalkeeper’s leg, although Saunders’ foot was dragged higher than where it started due to the movement of the keeper across him. Fallon’s leg was also off the ground throughout the brief period of contact, and there can be no accusations of malice on Saunders’ part, it was a stretch for the ball that went wrong.
It shouldn’t take a red card to galvanise a team, but that seems to be what happened as the Dabbers were the better side in the second half even with a player less. Pratt dragged a shot wide early on from the away side’s most coherent move of the game.
A flurry of half chances came Witton’s way, one a free kick that Garratt pushed away, another a shot from Adam Watson which Garratt parried at a narrow angle.
Byron Harrison slid in to try and turn a great set piece towards goal but couldn’t make contact.
An end-to-end period saw Kelvin Mellor not quite be able to bring down a decent cross, before Witton broke and ended up blasting over the bar from a promising position.
The Albion were unsurprisingly getting joy in the space afforded them by having a player more, a corner somehow wasn’t turned in, then sub James Hooper almost scored with one of his first touches but was denied by a header off the line.
Kai Evans saw an on target effort headed away, before Matty Tweedley drove a shot into a crowd of bodies. The 10 men deserve credit for keeping going despite the energy sapping efforts required to play 10 v 11. Their spells of pressure began to instil a bit of anxiety among the home crowd, who hadn’t seen their side beat Nantwich at home since 2018.
A couple of late attacks might have extended the lead for Witton, this time a deflection helped Nantwich as one of the shots spun wide.
That’s now 4 away games without a win for Nantwich, and it was only the third time since Jon Moran became manager that the Dabbers have failed to score. Meanwhile, the winless run on Boxing Day now stretches to 5 years.
But 2024 as a whole has been a very impressive year in the league; working out as 75 points from 41 league games played. With 42 games being played across the 24/25 season, a similar points tally must be the target if 2025 is to be one to remember.
Teams
Witton Albion: Louie Fallon, James Baillie (Oliver Hitchcox, 57), Damola Sotana, Ben Harrison, Lee Jackson (C), Joel Bailey, Isaac Graham (Harry Brazel, 79), Owen German, Nick Hepple, James Lawrie, Adam Watson (James Hooper, 74)
Subs not used: Kevin Spinelli, Wealth Dasilva
Goals: Hepple (8), Bailey (18)
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, James Melhado, Tyler Hill (Daz Thornton, 55), Kelvin Mellor, Troy Bourne (C), Perry Bircumshaw (Joe Robbins, 82), Tom Pratt, Matty Tweedley, Callum Saunders, Nathan Sandison (Byron Harrison, 29), Kai Evans
Red card: Saunders (45)
Attendance: 644