Nantwich Town earned their first victory of the month in the dying minutes of an atmospheric game against Sutton Coldfield, writes Liam Roe.
The last-ditch winner came from Lewis Short (pictured) in the 88th minute of a game that also saw the Dabbers pick up their second clean sheet of the season thanks to keeper Krystian Burzynski.
After an even opening ten minutes, the tide started turning in Nantwich’s favour as they began to build up the pressure on the Sutton back line.
On 14 minutes, as Liam Shotton tried to get the ball under control, Josh Hancock stepped in and fired a shot towards James Wren in the Sutton goal but it hit the side netting.
Andy White tried his luck from outside of the box on 26 minutes, but his shot didn’t have the power to beat Wren.
The ball quickly moved to the other end of the pitch as Malcolm Melvin weaved his way in between the Nantwich defence, but his effort from 18 yards out steered wide.
With ten minutes of the first half remaining, the Dabbers were forced to make a change as Mat Bailey replaced White who exited the field with a bandage around his head.
The referee blew the whistle on what was a dominating first half performance for the Dabbers.
Nantwich started the second half well and seven minutes in Josh Gordon picked up the ball on the wide right, rounded two Sutton players with one kick of the ball and played the ball to Shotton – but Wren saved the striker’s effort.
Just past the hour mark Hancock chased down a ball that should have been dealt with by Sutton. The ball fell to Gordon just inside the box but Wren rushed out of his goal in time to pull off a save before Gordon could shoot.
With 66 minutes gone, Shotton was clear in the box with just the keeper to beat after Matt Bell played him in – but his shot fired wide of the mark.
After 78 minutes, Sutton eventually had a shot on target. A mis-timed tackle from Bailey meant Luke Rodgers could slot the ball to Sergine Diop in the area. He took aim and fired but his shot crept just wide of Burzynski’s goal.
A minute later Hancock had a chance to put the Dabbers in the lead but his shot dipped just over the bar.
With just six minutes left Rodgers had a chance to snatch all three points for Sutton. Burzynski did well to parry away Ramone Stephens’ powerful shot from close range before Rodgers smashed the ball into the side netting.
Burzynski once again kept Nantwich in the game with three minutes left, the ball slipped past Harrison leaving Rodgers in the open but the Nantwich keeper flew off of his line to deny Sutton a late winner.
With only two minutes left to play, Short pinched a dramatic and well-deserved winner for the Dabbers.
Bell’s deflected attempt fell into the path of Short in the Sutton box and he confidently placed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal as the bench and the supporters erupted into celebration.
Shotton had a couple of chances to double the lead but couldn’t quite hit the back of the net.
In the end it didn’t matter as the referee blew the whistle for full time and Nantwich picked up all three points.
The win not only signals a return to winning ways but also moves Nantwich up to third place in the table.
Nantwich Town: Burzynski, White, Short, Harrison, Moran, Hall (c), Hancock, Osborne, Shotton, Bell, Gordon. Subs: Thornton, C.Smith, Griggs, Bailey (on for White), T.Smith
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