Photos by Jonathan White and Liam Price
The annual Nantwich Town awards took place on Friday night at the Swansway Stadium.
It goes down as a mixed season for the club, with the men’s sides’ improved form under Paul Carden not enough to prevent relegation, but the women’s team excelling and securing a third place finish in the Cheshire League.
As always, the night started with some reflection, as we remembered the Dabbers who passed away in the last year. Ian George and Peter Hope were highlighted and are missed by all.
There were then a couple of special awards, first Supporter of the Season to Terry Garnett who was at every single Dabbers game this season, home and away, and whose association with the club goes back to 1975.
Then, an Outstanding Contribution award deservedly went to Club Photographer Jonathan White. A reliable and popular presence for many years, Jonathan’s pictures have captured every good and bad moment at the Swansway Stadium and are vital for the media and website parts of the club.
Then, match shirts were presented to those who’ve sponsored players through the season by the players they’ve sponsored, a nice way of giving back after a tough season.
Onto the NTISA section of awards. The final Dabbers Home Decor Player of the Month, for April, went to Sean Cooke after a seamless re-entry back into the Dabbers team.
Next was the Ladies and Men’s Golden Moments, those blasts of brilliance that live long in the memory. For the Ladies, this went to Kelsey Robbins, whose brace in the final game of the season against Stockport secured that 3rd spot in the league.
For the men, Tom Booth was the winner for his superb pair of saves in the penalty shoot-out win over Tranmere at Prenton Park in December, making himself an instant Dabbers hero.
Finally, the NTISA Dabbers Home Decor Men’s Player of the Season went to Troy Bourne, calculated by all the NTISA votes over the course of the season.
Before the second half of the awards, Jon Moran surprised kit manager Jason Clarke with a signed shirt on behalf of the men’s squad, a great gesture for a valuable member of the Dabbers family.
It was then on to the Ladies team section of the evening. Manager Dan Mellor presented the awards, and spoke about the task he took over when becoming manager at the start of the season.
He said: ‘It’s not just me, it’s all the staff. It was a tough pre-season, a shock when the old manager left. We had to add new players quickly and the first half of the season was a struggle, but we’ve ended up with the best result in our history.”
Top scorer was Samantha Baldwin, whose 14 goals made her the clear winner.
Goal of the Season went to Dani Fisher-Sherratt for an excellent long range free kick away at Chester.
Player’s Player of the Season was won by Rebecca Davies.
Young Player of the Season was awarded to Libby Bulkeley and the big award, Ladies Player of the Season, was won by Kerry Green.
The final section of the evening was then for the men’s team.
Carden came up to address the audience, saying: “The spirit here epitomises the club. We got on a good run but just ran out of road.
“It was a big ask to stay up but every single player gave everything. We’ve got to hit next season head on and I think there’s good times coming.”
Top Scorer had joint winners in Dan Cockerline and Byron Harrison, both with 8 in all competitions. A request to have the goal away at Warrington Rylands re-assigned to Dan was denied by the league which would have seen him win outright.
The first of the 3 votes that were decided by the supporters was Goal of the Season. Unsurprisingly, this was won by Gary Taylor-Fletcher for his extraordinary long-range goal as Player-Coach away at Belper Town, with a mammoth 48% of the votes from a list of 10 nominees.
The Management Team’s Player of the Season was given to Troy Bourne, who clearly had impressed Paul Carden and his staff in their short time in charge as much as previous managers.
Player’s Player of the Season also went to Troy, his squad-leading 44 appearances, most of which as captain, being appreciated by his peers.
Onto the final two awards, both voted for by the supporters. Men’s Young Player of the Season was won by Tom Booth, fresh from making his debut for Crewe Alex earlier in the week. A number of match-winning performances and memorable saves saw Tom stroll away with the award after getting nearly 60% of the votes cast.
Finally, completing a great night for him personally, Troy Bourne was voted Men’s Player of the Season 2022/23. This was the tightest award, with just 17 votes separating the top 3 after nearly 350 votes across the online and paper polls.
Troy’s 4 awards on the night are added to a collection that includes Player’s and Manager’s Player of the Season in 2017/18 and Young Player of the Season in 2021/22.
A full album of Jonathan White’s pictures from the night can be accessed below.