Nantwich Town kicked off their Northern Premier League Premier Division campaign with a 1-1 draw against Lancaster City, writes Jack Beresford.
Nantwich manager Dave Cooke was absent from the touchline as he is recovering from a recent hip operation.
So Jay Bateman and Nigel Deeley were on the touchline while assistant manager Ritchie Sutton started at centre half.
They picked a strong side, handing competitive debuts to summer signings Louis Gray, AJ Leitch-Smith and Joel Grant.
The opening exchanges were scrappy, The Dabbers had a couple of set-plays, but the delivery was poor.
The first effort fell to the hosts as Lawson received the ball on the edge of the box, but his snapshot went well over.
The hot conditions were almost unbearable for the players and drinks breaks were certainly required.
The break in play seemed to set the hosts into gear and they came close once again on the half hour mark when Charlie Bailey crossed for Lawson who saw his header well saved Louis Gray.
In the 33rd minute, The Dabbers were down to 10 men.
Experienced midfielder David Norris raced through on goal, as he tried to keep the ball under control, he was pulled back by Joe Robbins.
The Nantwich player was shown a straight red for denying a goal-scoring opportunity.
It changed the complexion of the game and left Nantwich with a lot of work to do to try and earn a result.
On the stroke of half time, The Dabbers took off Joel Grant and bought on an extra midfielder in Jack Sherratt to add a bit more control to the game.
Early into the second half it didn’t look like the plan would pay off as Charlie Bailey rattled the post with a long-range curling effort.
Two minutes later, the deadlock was broken, and the hosts took the lead.
Norris’ low cross into the box wasn’t cleared by the Dabbers backline and it fell to Bailey who tucked home under the on-rushing Gray.
After going a goal down, it looked like Nantwich had a mountain to climb, especially with them only having 10 men.
The hosts had a good chance to double the scores in the 58th minute as Bailey cut inside and took aim, however his shot went out for a throw in.
In the 70th minute, Nantwich brought on Connor Heath as they tried to stretch the Lancaster backline and try and get something from the game.
Three minutes later, the plan worked and following an excellent through ball by Sean Cooke, Heath was suddenly in-behind and through on goal.
He waited for the ball to drop kindly before lifting over the onrushing keeper to send the Dabbers fans into raptures behind the goal.
There was still time for one more chance for the hosts to win the game.
Lawson turned well in the box and took aim but his effort was superbly saved by Gray.
Sutton said after the game: “We are proud of the boys, and was pleased by the shift that the lads put in.
“Connor is an excellent player, when he’s running in behind he’s very hard to stop. Luckily, at that moment in time he spotted the space and got in-behind to score.
“We’re really happy for him and the team for getting on scoresheet.
“Even with 11 men I didn’t think that we created much, we weren’t getting many bodies forward.
“When we went down to 10, we had to get in at half time and regroup with a decent plan.
“To be fair to myself, Nige and Jay we put a good plan together and it worked.”
Next up for The Dabbers is a home fixture against recently promoted Warrington Rylands.
(Pic by Jonathan White)
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