By Liam Price, photos by Jonathan White
It was another night of celebration and appreciation as our Men’s Awards Evening took place at The Swansway Stadium on Friday night.
A strong end for an eventual 10th place league finish and memorable runs to the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup and 4th Round Proper of the FA Trophy brought some incredible memories which were relived on the night.
Before the awards were handed out, there was a pause to remember those we’ve lost from the Dabbers family this year. Clive Atkinson, Bob Antrobus and Neil Whitehand are all missed and we continue to think of their friends and family, as well as all those associated with Nantwich who’ve passed away in recent times.
The first award of the evening, in the section for NTISA-voted awards, was for Supporter of the Season. This went to George Smyth, whose vocal support home and away and signature horn bellowing from the stands is a fixture of nearly every Nantwich game.
Next, it was Outstanding Contribution of the Season. And this is where it gets weird as this writer was one of the winners. Liam Price and Adam Bateman shared this great honour for work done as part of the Nantwich media team, from updates at games to operating the scoreboard at home games and everything in between. The shock element of this was fuelled by the winners, who were posting about all the awards from the evening, being given deliberately false information that someone else had won the award!
The final monthly NTISA Men’s Player of the Month went to Byron Harrison for April, voted for by NTISA members. Byron scored 3 goals in April as the Dabbers narrowly missed out on a play-off place.
The NTISA Golden Moment of the Season was given to Troy Bourne for his last-gasp winner in the 7-goal thriller win over Hednesford Town on Easter Monday. While it sadly didn’t count for much by the end of the season, in the moment it was a spine-tingling experience that made Dabbers dream that anything was possible.
Then, the NTISA Player of the Season award went to Kai Evans. This one is calculated by the cumulative number of votes gathered in the Player of the Month member’s polls over the season, so is a great barometer of a player being consistently good throughout a season.
A short presentation then followed for our Player Sponsors, who received a shirt from their individual players as a gesture of appreciation for the literal and spiritual investment they’d placed in them, and the club as a whole, this season.
Onto the final section, starting with the award for Most Assists. Appreciation for those that set up goals has grown a lot in recent years, especially with the popularity of FPL and other online games like that. This year the award went to Steven Hewitt. His 18 assists is incredible on its own, but even more incredible is that he did it in just 26 games and sadly hasn’t played since early December due to injury. His knee surgery is planned for this month and we all hope to see him back on the pitch soon.
Next was Top Goalscorer. After a season-long personal battle that has ebbed and flowed, Byron Harrison claimed the award with 20 goals to Kai Evans’ 18. Byron shared the award last year after joining part way through the season but this time he’s won it for himself. Most if not all of them came inside the penalty area and so many of them were crucial.
The first of the votes that were decided by the wider Nantwich fanbase was Men’s Goal of the Season. By a large margin in the end, the winner was Kai Evans’ sensational solo run and finish away at Witton Albion in November. He lit up a freezing evening and defied the shouts from the bench to pass it with a memorable goal.
The Men’s Management Team Player of the Season, decided by Paul Carden and his coaches including James Speare, went to Byron Harrison. Barely missing a game at the age of 36, and pairing that knack for unlocking tight games with big goals with a calm temperament, you can see why he was picked as the winner.
Next it was the squad’s turn to pick their own winner. The Player’s Player of the Season was Perry Bircumshaw. One of those players whose work can easily slip under the radar, Perry has once again been consistently strong in his 33 appearances this season, surpassing 75 in total since joining the Dabbers and again splitting those numbers between his preferred left back position and centre back, playing equally strongly in both.
Onto the final two awards, and the big ones that were voted on by fans both online and in person at the last home game of the season, with the numbers combined. For players aged 23 and under at the start of the season, the Nantwich Town Men’s Young Player of the Season went to Kai Evans. In his first full season of senior football, once he got settled Evans never looked back, scoring 18 goals and setting up 12 more, and putting a palpable fear into defences whenever he got on the ball. Thankfully, Dabbers supporters will hopefully see more of this next season with the recent news of Evans’ new contract.
Finally, the Nantwich Town Men’s Player of the Season 2023/24 was won by Byron Harrison. His 4th award of the evening the reward for a talismanic season up front in 47 of Nantwich’s 52 games with 24 goal contributions. His 20 goals is the most by a Nantwich player in a season since Sean Cooke in 2016/17. It is worth pointing out that this was an incredibly tight result, with just 10 votes between the top 3 of Harrison, Evans and Courtney Meppen-Walters, who both also deserve immense credit for their positive impacts on Nantwich’s season.
So that brought the curtain down on 2023/24 for the Nantwich Men’s side. But don’t forget the Women’s side have their first ever cup final on Sunday 12th May, followed by their first ever standalone awards evening on Friday 24th May. Tickets for that can be bought HERE.
