By James Briscoe
Nantwich Town were undone at Stafford Rangers by a fine Sean Kinsella strike and a Jimmy Turner diving header.
And the 2-0 victory lifted the hosts above the Dabbers in the Evo-Stik Premier League.
The match felt like a friendly at times with little more than bragging rights and a higher finishing place in the division to play for.
On 14 minutes Nantwich defender Charlie Raglan scuffed an attempted clearance to Rangers’ midfielder Kinsella who found the sweet spot perfectly driving past Jon Brain from the edge of the Dabbers’ area.
Rangers fans’ favourite Turner made it 2-0 with a thunderous diving header on 67 minutes from a corner.
Dabbers forward Kyle Wilson showed confidence shooting from distance after a minute but was easily thwarted by Rangers keeper Adam Alcock.
Kinsella gave a glimpse of things to come as he fired over on five minutes.
There were optimistic appeals for a Rangers penalty on 11 minutes as Raglan challenged Jon Sheldon in the area.
Ex-Dabber Chris Flynn seemed to handle in his penalty area from a Joe Guest flick on 25 minutes but the referee waved the Nantwich protests away, gesturing to his head.
Caretaker player-manager Darren Moss sent his side out early for the second half and they looked motivated to turn things around.
Striker Tom Bentham, returning from a bad back, had the ball in the net on 50 minutes but the assistant referee had flagged for offside.
Aaron Cole gave a free-kick to Stafford to the right of Brain’s area on 59 minutes and received a yellow card but the set piece was wasted and easily cleared.
PJ Hudson shot wide of Alcock’s goal on 75 minutes and Guest could only find the redundant goalkeeper’s hands with a free-kick in the 79th.
The Dabbers never really showed signs of a comeback and the game’s slow tempo was to Stafford’s advantage until the final whistle.
Nantwich drop two places to 16th with two games to play away to Buxton on Wednesday night and home to Blyth Spartans next Saturday.
Recent Comments