Nantwich Town made it four unbeaten in all competitions with a 4-1 win away at Witton Albion on Tuesday night.
Connor Rankin curled wide after just two minutes, his pressing and physicality working well but not so well when he picked up a booking after just 15 minutes.
Ahmed Ali had a shot blocked just outside the box before Witton’s John Pritchard picked out top scorer Connor Hughes who couldn’t direct a header on target.
There was no doubting the Dabbers were on top and there were a couple of big chances to make that pay.
Rankin was found by Evans and his low strike was brilliantly saved by Ollie Martin.
Then, Scott Butler saw an effort cleared away from off the goal-line from the following corner, both inches away from their first Dabbers goals.
Against the run of play, Witton then took the lead.
It was from a corner and was frustratingly similar to the opening goal from City of Liverpool at the weekend.
A corner was swung in and former Premier League defender Matthew Lowton side-footed in from close range.
The Dabbers didn’t have to wait long to equalise.
A free kick swung in by Stevie Hewitt was met by an unmarked Ali for just his second open play goal of the season.
Rankin headed over from a Tyler Hill cross as the Dabbers went in level at the break.
The second half saw the Dabbers put their foot on the accelerator much as they did on Saturday.
Sean Cooke dragged an effort wide, then on 55 minutes a moment of pure individual brilliance gave Nantwich the lead.
Kai Evans picked up the ball on the left side, and set off into a crowd of bodies with the ball seemingly glued to his foot.
Battling his way through he then had the coolness to open up his body and curl into the far corner to delight the travelling supporters behind that goal.
Paul Carden admitted afterwards he and some of the other coaches were shouting at Kai to pass the ball, but everyone of a Nantwich persuasion was delighted he didn’t.
10 minutes later, Kai had his second and 8th of the season.
It was another great finish, slotted in behind by Hewitt he showed composure to knock it around the onrushing keeper Martin and tuck the finish away from a quickly narrowing angle.
Danny Roberts, mostly not called into action in the game, made an instinctive save from an Elliot Rokka snapshot.
With 10 minutes to go, the Dabbers wrapped up the goal-scoring.
Hewitt completed a hat trick of assists with another sublime free kick delivery, a gift that captain Troy Bourne was only to happy to accept as he buried a header into the net.
Troy’s 5th of the season means he’s already surpassed his best season of scoring for the Dabbers, and we’re still only in November.
Witton were looking thoroughly deflated and gaps were opening up everywhere.
Sub Connor Heath had acres of space to run into but couldn’t quite pick out Rankin who was just missing a goal to top off a great centre forward’s performance, that crucially allowed Byron Harrison to rest.
A very good night all round for the Dabbers, and back-to-back league wins for only the second time this season.
Meanwhile, Nantwich Town can confirm that AJ Leitch-Smith (pictured) has left the club to join Stafford Rangers.
AJ was in his second stint at the club since signing for the Dabbers in the summer of 2022.
He went onto make 15 appearances, finding the net twice. He then left the club to join Warrington Rylands before re-joining Nantwich Town earlier this season.
In the 2023/24 season he had made 10 appearances, scoring four goals before picking up an injury which halted his season.
AJ leaves the Dabbers to link up with former manager Dave Cooke at Stafford Rangers.
Recent Comments