Nantwich Town suffer biggest league defeat in two years

Nantwich Town suffered their biggest league defeat in nearly two years as Chasetown won 4-0 at The Scholars Ground last night (October 8).

In his first game since being confirmed as manager on a permanent basis, Jon Moran named an unchanged line-up, with new and returning player/coach Daz Thornton on the bench.

The Dabbers had a good first half, with a lot of that coming through Kai Evans.

He delivered balls into the box and beat his markers with regularity but nothing was really testing Chasetown keeper Curtis Pond.

The first chance of the game fell to the home side on 10 minutes when the Dabbers failed to see the ball out for a goal kick.

A Chasetown player poked the ball to Joey Butlin who whipped it over the bar from a good position.

Tom Pratt hit a free kick straight at Pond before a Chasetown free kick caused Ben Garratt problems as he had to get down low to keep it out.

The closest either side came to scoring in the first period was through Evans when he hit the crossbar with a cross/shot that caught out Pond and nearly dropped in.

Another Evans shot was deflected for a corner, before Chasetown top scorer Jack Langston fired straight at Garratt after the Dabbers defence riskily backed off him.

Callum Saunders grew into the half and had a couple of moments.

A good pass to Pratt in the box was scuppered by the offside flag before he was very well challenged in the box as he prepared to shoot a couple of minutes later.

A Saunders free kick hit low took a nick and went wide. The corner was headed over the bar to finish off a decent half for Nantwich.

After the break, Chasetown played higher up the pitch and exposed a lack of cover in wide areas, resulting in the first goal.

Jordan Evans crossed for Oli Hayward to rise highest and head in at the back post.

The home side doubled their lead just five minutes later.

Again the Dabbers were running towards their goal as Chasetown charged forward.

A ball was slid through towards Danny Glover but it hit James Melhado and cruelly rolled past Garratt for an own goal.

Evans looked most likely to breathe life back into the Dabbers. A winding and direct run saw him hit the side netting from the left side of the box.

A free kick from Matty Tweedley was hooked towards goal by Paddy Kennedy but easy for Pond.

But things got worse on 74 minutes.

A free kick was poorly defended, it hit Melhado and bounced to Mitchell Clark who had the simplest task to fire past Garratt and make it 3-0 and seal the points.

Just two minutes later, it was 4-0.

Another simple free kick played forward was won on the second ball by Chasetown and a smart touch round the corner played in Joe Thompson to run through and score.

There is a pattern developing of Nantwich conceding goals in batches.

There were two in 8 minutes and two in 3 minutes against Sporting Khalsa. Two in 5 minutes against Congleton, and two in 6 minutes and two in 2 minutes in this game.