Elliott Osborne

Nantwich Town won a nine-goal thriller on the opening day of the season as they beat Stamford 6-3.

Goals from new signing Josh Hancock, PJ Hudson, a brace of penalties from Elliot Osborne (pictured) and one each from Steve Jones and Liam Shotton secured a fantastic opening day win.

Parkinson handed debuts to Josh Gordon, Darren Thornton, Matt Bell, Sam Hall and Josh Hancock debuts.

Youth team player Troy Bourne was also on the bench.

Before the match, the crowd observed a minute’s silence in memory of ex director Steve Talbot and former youth team player and coach Declan Hassall, both who died recently.

Early on, Stamford goalkeeper Richard Knight made a fine save to deny Hancock and again moments later to save Mat Bailey’s bullet header.

The visitors took the lead in rather bizarre circumstance. Dan Clements went through and his shot was blocked by Terry Smith.

However the ball rebounded back off Clements and trickled into the goal.

Just three minutes later the visitors were 2-0 up when Josh Gordon brought down Andrew Hall who slotted home the penalty.

Nantwich continued at a high tempo in the first half and were rewarded on 44 minutes when White played the ball to Hancock, who curled past Knight for 2-1.

After the break, Nantwich continued to dominate but couldn’t find a way to score.

Soon after Matty Kosylo came off carrying a knock and PJ Hudson came on.

The Dabbers leveled at 2-2 when White got forward and he crossed for Shotton, who knocked the ball down for Hudson to slot home.

Shotton went close for the Dabbers twice soon after.

But disaster struck as Stamford regained the lead.

Keeper Smith did not clear a back pass properly and the ball found Greg Smith who fired into the bottom corner.

Nantwich sub Steve Jones made an immediate impact, broke into the box and was pushed over to earn a penalty.

Osborne stepped up and he sent Knight the wrong way to make it 3-3.

Nantwich took the lead with just a minute to go.

Captain Thornton raced down the line and sent over a brilliant cross for Jones who skillfully directed his header into the corner.

Stamford then pushed for leveller, but this allowed the hosts to break through.

Jones forced his way into the area and was brought down by Tom Batchelor, who was shown a red card.

Osborne fired the ball into the opposite corner to score his second penalty.

And in the final minute of the game, Shotton made it a six-goal performance when he connected with Jones’s cross to complete the scoring.

The crowd of 302 gave both teams a standing ovation as they left the pitch.

Dabbers boss Parkinson will be hoping his side can continue their level of performance on Monday when they make their first away trip to Stourbridge, kick off is 7.45pm.

Nantwich Town: T.Smith, Gordon, White, Thornton (C), Bailey, Osborne, Kosylo, Hall, Shotton, Bell and Hancock. Subs: Jones (on for Bell), Moran (on for White), Bourne, Hudson (on for Kosylo) and C.Smith

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