Nantwich Town held by Avro in 1-1 draw at Swansway Stadium

An exciting last 15 minutes saw Nantwich Town and Avro draw 1-1 at the Swansway Stadium, writes Liam Price.

There was one change for Nantwich from the defeat at Atherton as Paddy Kennedy made his first Nantwich appearance since early February in place of the suspended Perry Bircumshaw.

Troy Bourne was no longer suspended but missed out with an injury of his own.

Avro had a double chance just 11 minutes in.

AJ Warburton saw his shot saved well by Ben Garratt and the second effort was blocked away.

Kofi Moore saw his pullback put wide by a stretching Byron Harrison for the Dabbers.

James Melhado and Liam Ellis traded efforts that went relatively close but didn’t force either goalkeeper into a save.

Geffry Ebhote headed wide as he tried to repeat his feat of scoring in the reverse game.

Harry Bunn’s well hit strike was parried away by Garratt.

The first period nearly ended with a freakish own goal when Melhado headed over his own crossbar.

The Dabbers began to build some chances in the last quarter of the game.

Kelvin Mellor rose highest but headed over from a corner.

Then, Kai Evans missed a big chance on 70 minutes when blazing over from the left side of the box after doing well to pinch the ball off an Avro defender.

Avro made the Dabbers pay for that profligacy just six minutes later, but not without controversy.

Tom Pratt was seemingly barged off the ball in midfield but nothing was given.

The visitors broke away through Malakai McKenzie and he played it through to Warburton, who finished calmly past Garratt for his 10th of the season.

There was also a hint of offside about his run but this was not the first time Warburton had been picked out and the Dabbers failed to learn their lesson.

A couple of other half opportunities threatened to take the game out of Nantwich’s reach but they held out and found a leveller in the 83rd minute.

A long free kick wasn’t cleared by Avro, it was played back in to Harrison who laid it off for Callum Saunders to curl expertly into the corner off his right foot.

It was Saunders’ eighth goal of the campaign, matching his total from the whole of last season with four games still to go.

There was still time in the game for more drama.

Avro’s Kyle Hawley was sent off for a second yellow card in the 86th minute.

His first yellow was issued just four minutes earlier for stopping a Dabbers counter, which led to the free kick that Saunders ended up scoring from.

The second came for a late challenge on Saunders.

Saunders could have won the game in the most spectacular way.

He took the ball down on his chest and volleyed narrowly over the bar.

The game finished level and that was probably the right result.

Nantwich remain in mid-table, a side which works hard but at times looking toothless up top.

(Pics courtesy of Jonathan White)