By Liam Price
Nantwich Town ended the season on a high with a very late 2-1 win at Wythenshawe FC.
Joel Connolly came in for the injured Tom Pratt in the Dabbers’ only change from the Easter Monday win over Witton.
On a tough surface, it was the home side who started better. Despite this, Nantwich should have taken the lead when the ball couldn’t be forced home at the far post and was then put over the bar by Byron Harrison.
Noel Brindle forced Ben Garratt into his first save with a shot he had to parry away.
It was the relegated Ammies who took the lead on 17 minutes, as Darrhyl Mason took advantage of the Dabbers not clearing their lines to poke the ball in from close range. A good old fashioned foot through the ball would have stopped it at source.
Oghenero Orhenomare was played in after a shanked clearance from Matty Tweedley but repeated the trick in slicing wide.
Kai Evans saw a low effort pushed away by Kyle Haslam, before Harrison headed over the bar from a corner.
Alex Panter couldn’t find the target with a header, then Callum Saunders whipped in a great cross that no one in green could get on the end of.
Wythenshawe captain Luke Worth saw a big chance go begging near half time when the ball dropped to him at a corner but Nantwich this time defended more sharply.
In the second half, Brindle saw a shot blocked then a wonderful cross just about dealt with by the Dabbers backline.
Garratt held a header from an Ammies corner before Ben Hockenhull had a shot blocked at the other end.
The game was still going the home team’s way until substitute Kofi Moore was brought on for Nantwich and really started to open things up.
Evans was a beneficiary of this new openness when he was able to charge down the left and square for Byron Harrison to bundle in the equaliser on 62 minutes. 13 goals for Harrison in another great season for him up top for Nantwich.
Nantwich’s Welsh wizard Evans had really come to life, forcing Haslam into a low save a few minutes later.
Wythenshawe flicked a header wide from a corner, then a wonderful piece of control from Moore almost created another Nantwich chance. It was a touch straight out of the Dimitar Berbatov playbook.
The goalscorer Mason put a header wide but was having less and less joy in the game as Nantwich were asserting themselves in the game.
Evans hit a long range free kick straight at Haslam but bigger chances were to come.
Wythenshawe couldn’t force the ball in at a corner, those balls into the box proving an issue for the Dabbers all day.
The Dabbers came agonisingly close a minute from the end of normal time. A bit of head tennis saw Hockenhull loop one off the crossbar and Harrison take just too long to tuck in the rebound and saw it lashed away from him.
After that, it was looking destined for a draw, but Nantwich found a way to win and it was that man Moore, who in space on the right managed to squeeze the ball home in the final minute of stoppage time. Haslam will not want to see it again as he should have easily kept it out but the Dabbers would take it and repeated the trick that they pulled off at the other Wythenshawe team Wythenshawe Town with coming behind to win in the 94th minute.
So 5 unbeaten to end the season for Nantwich and an 8th place finish. That’s the first time Nantwich have finished in a higher position than the previous season (excluding the Covid years) since 2018-19. In Jon Moran, the Dabbers have one of if not the youngest permanent manager in England who has conducted himself brilliantly even in the bad times that have come. There is undoubted prodigious talent throughout the squad but they have not always been able to show it on the pitch. It all makes for a fascinating summer undercut by that most fickle of things in football: hope.
Teams
Wythenshawe FC: Kyle Haslam, Alastair Brown (Matthew Cleary, 80), Oghenero Orhenomare (Harvey Trainor, 67), Luke Worth (C) (Christopher Howard, 90+3), Fraser Goodwin, Nnamdi Ibeto (Louis Corrigan, 72), William Igoe (Thomas Killen-Talbot, 71), Noel Brindle, Darrhyl Mason, Andrew Keogh, Cameron Annis-Wade
Goal: Mason (17)
Nantwich Town: Ben Garratt, James Melhado, Perry Bircumshaw (Kofi Moore, 57), Kelvin Mellor (C), Ben Hockenhull, Joel Connolly, Callum Saunders (Joe Robbins, 79), Byron Harrison, Alex Panter (Tom Horton, 90+5), Kai Evans, Matty Tweedley
Subs not used: Eric Merner, Reece Vaughan
Goals: Harrison (62), Moore (90+4)
Attendance: 418