Nantwich Town were narrowly edged out in an eight-goal thriller at Stourbridge, writes Richard Scott.
Goals from Steve Lewis, Harry Clayton (pictured) and Jordan Johnson weren’t enough for the Dabbers.
Nantwich made a bright start, almost taking the lead when Saturday’s hero Adam Jones headed just over from an Adam Pepper corner.
But the hosts took the lead on eight minutes when Benbow hit an unstoppable shot on the turn from 18-yards out, going in off the post.
Four minutes later, the Dabbers were 2-0 down when a cross from Kyle Harris found Benbow, who headed home for his second goal of the night.
Despite being 2-0 down Nantwich continued attacking , with Andy White making a number of surging runs down the left flank and forcing a number of corners.
Lewis looked to get his first goal in a Nantwich shirt when, following a foul on Johnson, he stepped up to take the free kick.
But his driven effort went over the bar.
Smith was kept busy at the other end, making fine stops from Benbow – tipping one out for a corner when it looked destined to add a third to the host’s total.
But on 31 minutes, Smith was unable to stop the Glassboys going 3-0 up. Brown managed to shrug off a couple challenges outside the box, before hitting the ball low and hard into the net.
Nantwich optimised their never-say-die attitude again, this time through Steve Lewis.
On 39 minutes he worked his way around a pair of defenders and fired past Coleman for his first goal for Nantwich Town.
Five minutes into the second half the game was forced to take a break in play, when one of the assistant referees pulled up short with an injury.
Just before the hour-mark the hosts regained their three-goal advantage.
A good header from a corner was superbly saved by Smith, but Chris Knight was on hand to turn in and make it 4-1.
The goal came against the run of play, following a bright start to the second half from Nantwich.
But the Dabbers reacted positively, with White striking the post after 63 minutes. The rebound fell to Clayton, who couldn’t miss. He slotted home to bring Nantwich back into the game at 4-2.
Shortly after, the game was delayed for 10 minutes as the injured linesmen could not continue and a replacement had to be sourced from the crowd.
The break disrupted the play, with Stourbridge capitalising on 77 minutes. Benbow completed his hat-trick to make it 5-2, despite protests from the Dabbers’ faithful for offside.
But for the third time Nantwich were able to react positively, when on 81 minutes Johnson capitalised on a poor Coleman clearance.
He calmly finished into the empty net from 30 yards out, giving the Dabbers hope of mounting a late comeback.
Three minutes later another weak kick found its way to sub Alex Meaney, but he had a far tougher chance, doing well to hit an effort into the air. It was on target, but Coleman recovered to catch the ball.
Adam Jones almost followed up his injury-time goal on Saturday with another in the seventh minute of injury time, but Coleman recovered to gather the ball at the second attempt.
The Dabbers are next in action on Saturday (September 6) as they visit Kings Lynn FC on Non-League Day.
Nantwich Town: Smith, Lycett, White, M.Jones (c), A.Jones, Wilson, Clayton, Pepper, Johnson, Blake and Lewis.
Subs: Dowling, Meaney (on for Pepper, 55 minutes), Callaghan, Bramall (on for Lewis, 55 minutes) and Green
Attendance: 362
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