Nantwich Town suffered a big blow losing 2-1 at home to Marske United in a crucial battle near the bottom of the Northern Premier League, writes Adam Bateman.
Gary Taylor-Fletcher called the character of the Dabbers squad into question afterwards, saying “we’ve got 2 or 3 leaders but the rest are just accepting mediocrity”.
After 10 days of preparation, Ritchie Sutton and Taylor-Fletcher rang the changes to the starting team.
Caspar Hughes, Jonathan Moran, James Caton and Ivan Urvantev all made it into the starting line up.
And it was Nantwich who started the brightest, looking to trouble the away defence.
However, the first real chance fell to Marske, as Donald Chimalilo managed to find himself in space down the left hand side.
He cut into the penalty area and rounded Tom Booth, but his pull back was cleared.
James Caton, who was looking dangerous early on for the Dabbers, saw his curling shot deflected wide for a corner.
Urvantev and Caton caused the Marske defence all kinds of bother in the first 20 minutes.
And it was the Moldovan next to try his luck as he produced a bit of magic with a tricky run into the penalty box only to see his shot go narrowly wide.
Caton went close again soon after with a header which went wide of the far post.
And against the run of play Marske scored on the counter attack.
A ball out wide down their right hand flank led to a fine cross which met at the far post by an unmarked Jacob Day to score.
Soon after, Chimalilo ran straight though the home defence, and very calmly slotted the ball to the side of an advancing Booth to double the away side’s lead after half an hour.
Just before the second half got underway, Sutton and Taylor-Fletcher decided changes were required
Hughes and Dawson made way for Perry Bircumshaw and Ryan Morton.
A few minutes into the second half a Tom Scully free-kick landed at Dan Cockerline who did well to head the ball into Troy Bourne’s path, but at full stretch, he just couldn’t connect with it.
At the other end, Chimalilo continued to trouble the Dabbers defence. He ran past Bircumshaw, then his pass to Day was turned towards the home goal, but on this occasion, the shot went wide.
Nantwich made one final change heading into the last 20 minutes as Sean Lawton was replaced by Byron Harrison in a bid to be more attacking.
Caton had another effort that went wide, but with six minutes to go Nantwich grabbed a goal.
A Troy Bourne cross caused panic in the away defence it Steven Hewitt lashed his shot into roof of the net for his first goal for the club.
It seemed to give new hope and a renewed determination.
The hosts launched attack after attack to find a late equaliser just as they had done against Liversedge.
But this time it was not meant to be, and the win went to Marske.
Nantwich are away to Morpeth Town on February 25, with the next home game on March 4 against Hyde United.
(pics courtesy of Peter Robinson)
Sorry to say but we were poor in all areas,no real game plan and second best most of the game.
Not sure what the answer is,but if the management our questioning commitment then maybe its time for a clear out and start to rebuild, itsound harsh but time is running out and performances are not improving