Nantwich Town eased through to the Second Qualifying Round of the Emirates FA Cup with a 2-0 win over Grantham Town at the Optimum Pay Stadium, writes Liam Price.
Before the game, there was a minute’s applause for legendary Dabber James “Pat” Smith who died earlier in the week.
The Dabbers were sharp from the early stages and could have taken the lead after just 12 minutes, a low shot from captain Caspar Hughes was mishandled by Grantham keeper James Pollard and Ben Harrison fired wide on the rebound with the keeper still on the ground.
Nantwich only had to wait another four minutes for the opener.
Sean Cooke found space on the left and squared for Argentine Thommy Montefiori to tap in for his first FA Cup goal.
The tempo and energy was back in the Dabbers build up play, soon after a slick move involving Hughes, Matty Devine and Cooke led to him seeing a shot deflected just wide.
Cooke could have added to the lead, hitting the crossbar with a brilliant free kick on the half hour.
Devine and Walsh were also linking well on the left. A one-two saw Devine play it across to Joel Stair who was just offside as Pollard made a good save.
Grantham nearly pulled things level, Harvey Grice forcing a good Cameron Terry save with his legs, and an Adam Watson header that was cleared off the line by Luke Walsh on the stroke of half-time.
Devine and Prince Haywood had to come off either side of half-time through injury.
It meant an early debut for Ibrahima Sy, who joined the club on a month’s loan from Stoke City on Friday.
And he put in an impressive first performance considering all that.
Grantham threatened more in the second period, especially through forward Michael Williams.
In the space of a couple of minutes, he twice had Terry worried with a couple of long-range efforts.
The first was a low deflected drive that spun wide of the left post, and the second a clean strike from 25 yards that didn’t miss the top left corner by much.
After surviving that spell of pressure, it was Nantwich who doubled their lead just after the hour.
Shaun Miller, who came on as sub six minutes earlier, was first to react to a quick Cooke free-kick, and finished calmly with the Grantham defence only watching.
James Williamson headed over as Grantham tried to get back into the tie, a decent opening that might have made things interesting in the last ten minutes.
Both Cooke and Thommy nearly added a third late on, Cooke a low strike that Pollard kept out well, and Thommy trying a left foot curler that deflected out for a corner.
Nantwich made it into the next round, with the draw coming on Monday.
James “Pat” Smith collapsed and died last Tuesday evening.
He was a Dabbers hero who loved Nantwich Town and the town that he lived in.
He followed his team up and down the country, rarely missed a game, and would often be found in his programme hut near the turnstiles selling many a programme or a 50/50 raffle ticket.
His work was never over as he would then head up to the top of the Swansway stand where he would help steward the main door into the bar.
Pat also had a lot of connections in the town, trying to find ways to help the club no more so than through Edencroft wines, where Pat continually secured bottles of wine for the NTISA Player of the Month awards.
He also secured sponsorship from Ableworld for the Disabled Stand built by the NTISA.
The club said in a statement: “Folk like Pat are hard to find, not only as a volunteer but as genuinely wonderful person.
“He had time for everyone whether you knew him or not – as many a visiting supporter have been commenting on in the last couple of days.
“Pat – everyone at Nantwich Town and the town of Nantwich will sorely miss you.”
(Images courtesy of Jonathan White)
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