Nantwich Town 5
Squires Gate 2
League (NW Counties League Div 1)

Match Report

Saturday 14th April 2007 saw the end of an era for Nantwich Town, as they bade farewell to their home ground at Jackson Avenue after 121 years.

The club’s new £3.8 million ground at Kingsley Fields, on the outskirts of the town, will be ready for the start of the new season, and the last home fixture of the season against Squires Gate offered one final opportunity to see football played at the ground. I went down to join the supporters, officials and players past and present who had gathered there to swap memories and enjoy the occasion.

On arriving at the ground just after 2 o’clock, the first thing that struck me was the fact that a decent sized crowd was already gathered, and sellers of programmes, commemorative badges and raffle tickets were already doing a brisk trade.

Surveying the scene around the ground, a number of games of mini-football involving members of Nantwich Town’s junior teams were already under way on the pitch, and a noticeable number of males of varying ages carrying an assortment of bags, rucksacks and cameras suggested that the game had attracted groundhoppers from around the country, as well as locals.

First port of call was the tea bar, and after making the acquaintance of club officials, I sat and had a chat to Peter Hallett, who covers non-league football for the Sentinel newspaper. Not surprisingly, he had a few stories to tell about watching football at Jackson Avenue since his first visit in 1989.

“I’ve seen some tremendous games here over the years”, he said. “I remember a fantastic hat trick by Ronnie Jepson, who went on to play League football and is now manager at Gillingham, but when talking about hat tricks, the one that really sticks in my memory came on the 9th September 1995 in an FA Cup tie between Nantwich and Droylsden.

“That was the day Andy Locke scored the fastest ever hat trick in the FA Cup, in just two minutes and 20 seconds. I couldn’t believe it, because I had a scoop that most professional journalists would give their right arm for. I realised from earlier research I’d done that it was the fastest ever, and I then spent the weekend proving that it was!

“I had to ring the FA statisticians, and then I had to field various calls from other people claiming records about scoring goals in FA Cup ties – but they were all missing the point, none of them had scored a hat trick as quick as Andy Locke’s.

“Of course, last year the FA Vase run was very special. I went to the away tie at Cammell Laird, and talking to the people there no one gave Nantwich a chance, but they ran out winners. In the second leg at Jackson Avenue, I just couldn’t believe how well they played in winning 4-0, and I remember the crowd’s reaction too that day, they were fantastic.

“This season I’ve done quite a few games and followed the promotion push, and the team have been playing very well and worked hard, so I’ve got some good recent memories too.

“I’ll be sorry to see Jackson Avenue go, but time marches on and there is a limit to how much the ground could be developed on the present site. I’m like everyone else in looking forward to going to the new ground, and let’s hope it’s the dawn of a new era for the club”.

As Peter went off to check on team line ups, an announcement over the tannoy gave news that would have disappointed many still arriving at the ground - the programmes had sold out and we were still a few minutes away from kick off.

In the time I spent queueing for a programme, I saw several people buying more than one copy, so the news didn’t come as any great surprise to me, but club officials sensibly decided to order a reprint and take orders from those who missed out on the day, and the steady stream of people heading to the clubhouse to leave their names and hand over their cash suggested the print run was unlikely to be a small one.

At this point I should also mention that programme was an excellent publication and one worthy of the occasion. As well as the usual team line ups and match details, a 16 page colour insert written by club President Michael Chatwin and illustrated with many pictures, provided a fascinating history of the club and memorable games played at Jackson Avenue.

A few minutes before kick off, members of the club’s junior teams formed a guard of honour to welcome the teams out on to the pitch, so I joined the assembled ranks of press and club photographers on the half way line to await their arrival. By this time the crowd had grown noticeably larger, helped no doubt by the club’s generous decision to give out free entry tickets to every supporter who attended the league derby match against Stone Dominoes the previous Saturday.

At a couple of minutes to three, the Nantwich players emerged holding flags that were subsequently handed out to young supporters in the crowd, the pitch cleared of everyone except the 22 players and match officials, and it was down to business.

In Nantwich’s case, it was time to focus on collecting the three points they needed for their promotion push, and a cautious start to the game by both sides gave a misleading impression of what was about to follow, as the game exploded into life on the 15th minute mark.

An extraordinary four minutes began with Mark Fitton firing a shot through a ruck of players from the edge of the box to put Nantwich a goal up, and within three minutes an untidy clearance fell straight into the path of Andy Bott, who wrongfooted Squires Gate keeper Ryan Yeomans with a shot that wasn’t hit cleanly but ended up in the net none the less.

The cheers of the home crowd had barely died down when Nantwich added a third within a minute, when Danny Griggs beat two defenders in a great solo run before curling a shot across the keeper into the far corner of the net.

To their eternal credit Squires Gate refused to give up in the face of considerable adversity, and began to play an increasingly notable part as a thoroughly entertaining first half wore on. Marc Beattie pulled a goal back with a shot from ten yards just on the half hour, which appeared to be little more than a minor irritation to the home side.

However, when Rob Lloyd outpaced the home defence in a long ball chase and executed a delicate chip over the advancing Nantwich keeper Rob Hackney six minutes later, there was a noticeable air of anxiety among the large home support as earlier thoughts of a comfortable stroll in the sunshine began to disappear as quickly as pints of ale were being dispensed in the club house.

However, as the referee’s whistle brought the first half to an end, my own urge for a half time refreshment had to be delayed as I was back on the pitch again, this time for a presentation, and one with a fascinating story behind it.

Mrs Doris Hammersley had been nominated to receive, on behalf of the club, a watercolour painting of Jackson Avenue by local artist Peter Green. Mrs Hammersley’s credentials for representing the club are impressive to say the least.

She is the daughter of the late William Chesworth who was known as “Nantwich’s Grand Old Man of Football”, who became involved with the club soon after it was formed in 1884, becoming Secretary in 1895. Mrs Hammersley’s son Kevin, a keen Dabbers follower for many years, was also present and there can’t be many families who can claim to have such a long standing link with one football club – although if anyone can tell me otherwise I’d be interested to hear from them.

On the subject of the picture itself, anyone interested in obtaining a limited edition copy print should contact the club directly, as the intention is that a small number will be made available to purchase.

Once the formalities had been completed, it was time for a brief pop into the hospitality area for a quick cuppa and then back out into the sunshine to watch the last 45 minutes of action at Jackson Avenue.

With a considerable number of home supporters now gathered behind the goal at the club house end which Nantwich were attacking, the second half began rather much as the first with neither side creating a chance of note. That was until ten minutes in when Nantwich gave themselves some breathing space with another goal. Andy Bott lost his marker as a cross from the right was swung into the penalty area and his header from eight yards put Nantwich 4-2 ahead.

Bott was also involved in what turned out to be the last ever goal scored at Jackson Avenue, when Nantwich’s fifth and final goal arrived 15 minutes from time. Chasing a long ball down the left, Bott won the tussle with a defender, and he set up Andy Kinsey for a shot that Squires Gate keeper Yeomans got a hand to, but could only parry high up into the roof of the net.

Nantwich continued to press forward and a few late flurries could have increased their advantage, but there was no further scoring and when the referee’s whistle sounded to end the game, the inevitable mini pitch invasion of youngsters ensued. The Nantwich players were then joined by members of the club’s junior ranks as they applauded the home supporters, and the squad posed for pictures on the pitch before finally returning to the dressing room shortly after 5 o’clock.

By that time the stadium was beginning to finally empty, but a good number were still obviously reluctant to leave, and were taking the opportunity to have one last stroll on the pitch and take pictures of friends and family.

As he surveyed the scene, I asked Nantwich Town Chairman and Director of Football Clive Jackson to sum up his feelings about the whole afternoon.

“It’s been an absolutely excellent day, with over 1000 fans here, and lots of young kids which is what this club’s all about”, he said. “It’s also a sad day too, of course, because we are moving and I say that having only been here 13 years - there are other officials and supporters who have been coming here a lot longer than me.

“But the best way to sum it up is that it’s the end of one era and the start of another. Jackson Avenue has served us well, but it is a little bit out of the way and we find that lots of people in Nantwich don’t know where it is. The new ground is on the new main road into Nantwich, it’s at the gateway to the town, it has a lot of community facilities attached to it and we want the football club to be the heart of the community.

“You can see from the attendance here today this is very much a family club, and we want it to remain that way. We’ve got 26 teams across different age groups, which is one of the main reasons why we had to look at relocating in the first place as we couldn’t cater for them here as we would like. The new stadium gives us the facilities we need to cater for all those kids and give them all one place they can call their home ground.

“As far as our supporters are concerned, I’m sure that for some of them, today will be tinged with sadness. However, I hope that they are, like everyone at the club, all looking forward to being part of the new era at Kingsley Fields nest season”

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THE DABBERS’ LAST MATCH AT JACKSON AVENUE
Saturday 14th April 2007.
NANTWICH TOWN 5 (Fitton 13mins; Kinsey 16 & 72; Griggs 17; Bott 55) SQUIRES GATE 2 (Beattie 29; Lloyd 35)
NANTWICH: Rob Hackney, Mark Fitton, Gyorgy Kiss, Richard Smith, Paul Donnelly, Phil Parkinson (capt), Murray McCulloch, Stuart Scheuber, Andy Kinsey, Andy Bott, Danny Griggs. Subs: Adam Beasley (for Blake, 80), Matt Blake (for Donnelly, 40), Danny Smith (for Scheuber, 87).
Attendance: 1071
Referee: Nigel Day (Kidsgrove)

Match report written by North West Side Stories