Nantwich Town retained the Eddie Morris Memorial Trophy with a 2-0 win over Whitchurch Alport in pre-season at the Swansway Stadium, writes Liam Price.
The Dabbers were down on numbers so there were few changes to the starting line-up, however the returning Patrick Jarrett and youngster Tom Horton were on the bench for the first time.
In oppressive heat early on both teams struggled, but chances did start to come. All of the early shots came from Alport but none of them troubled Ben Garratt.
Nantwich’s chances, when they came, were of a higher quality. Ben Greenop got in behind and evaded a cynical foul attempt to draw a save from the Whitchurch keeper.
A minute later, the Dabbers led. Aidy Roxburgh burst down the right side and pulled it back for Byron Moore to curl in his first Nantwich goal via a deflection.
Greenop was full of running and when the Whitchurch keeper misjudged a header when coming out he very nearly poked the ball home.
Whitchurch came again and tried to equalise, but few of their efforts were on target.
Their best chance came via a Nantwich mistake. Garratt let a corner out of his grasp and the subsequent header was cleared off the line.
The Dabbers had further chances to extend the lead before the break.
Greenop brought a great save from the goalkeeper when clean through, before one of the Nantwich trialists hit the top of the crossbar with what definitely looked like a cross.
In the second half, Byron Harrison headed over the bar from a Greenop cross.
Then in the 54th minute, the Dabbers did double the lead.
A free kick from Joel Connolly came off a Whitchurch head and was drilled in by Greenop, who deserved his goal.
It was great reactions that he showed as the ball came at him quickly.
Greenop was involved again when laying it back for Fenton Green to plant a shot wide.
Connolly almost scored a spectacular goal when winning the ball in midfield and lobbing over the keeper who was off his line but also over the bar.
A couple more Whitchurch shots didn’t trouble Garratt, before Greenop hit the side netting and Harrison brought another save out of the busy Alport keeper.
He made one last save from Greenop in the last five minutes as the Dabbers held onto the trophy they’ve won each of the four times it’s been played in memory of a friend of both clubs, and Kelvin Mellor was presented with it by two of his daughters after the game.
(Pics by Nantwich Town and Jonathan White)
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