Nantwich Town played out an entertaining goalless draw with FC United of Manchester at Broadhurst Park to secure their first clean sheet of the season.
The home side, off back-to-back wins, nearly opened the scoring in the first minute, Regan Linney getting a shot away that was well saved by Louis Grey.
A quarter of an hour in, a clever 1-2 between Sean Cooke and Connor Heath allowed Heath the space to cross but it was too close to Dan Lavercombe in the FC goal.
Joe Robbins had a shot that he sliced well wide, before Edy Maieco broke the organised Dabbers lines with a cheeky nutmeg on Robbins, the move ending with a miscued effort from Linney.
Caspar Hughes, filling in at right back in a patchwork defence that was missing Joel Stair, Ritchie Sutton and Jon Moran, made an excellent tackle to stop Maieco later on in the half.
The half ended on a sour note as Matt Bell had to be subbed off with a neck injury.
Dave Cooke confirmed after the game that Bell had been taken to hospital as a precaution.
On Wednesday morning, it was confirmed he was out of hospital and had suffered hyper extended ligaments in his neck.
In the second half, Luke Griffiths and Joel Grant traded wayward efforts as both teams struggled to really grab a hold of the match.
But Nantwich did begin to grow into it, the best chance yet falling to Robbins who smashed over the bar from the edge of the box, anything under the bar would have surely been the opener.
A reprieve for the Dabbers came 15 minutes from time.
FC United substitute Jack Anderton tucked the ball away but was flagged offside.
Video footage showing later that it was the correct call from the assistant ref.
AJ Leitch-Smith came on to try and force things back the Dabbers’ way, and very nearly did so immediately, forcing a good save from Lavercombe at his near post with a rasping drive.
Perry Bircumshaw, who had only made his first appearance for the Dabbers on Saturday, found himself at centre-back and barely put a foot wrong, one turn and long pass in particular while being pressed hard towards his own goal was a standout moment.
There was almost a Dabbers winner on 87 minutes, a low cross from Hughes was deflected and forced Lavercombe into an awkward adjustment and save to just prevent what would have been an own goal.
A frantic ending from both sides was fruitless in the end, a draw the right result in front of a typically boisterous home crowd and a good midweek following of Dabbers fans too.
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