Nantwich Town 2
Stourbridge 0
League (NPL Premier Division)

Match Report

A debut strike from Jordan Cole saw Nantwich Town claim a 2-0 victory over Stourbridge. Cole, who signed from Newcastle Town earlier in the week, came on as a second half substitute. And within ten minutes he had doubled the Dabbers’ lead with a fine long range effort following Harry Clayton’s first half finish.

Manager Dave Cooke made two changes from the defeat to Coalville Town as Curtis Strong and David Forbes were brought in for skipper Sam Hall and Steve Jones.

The Dabbers started brightly and visiting keeper Matt Gould saved well after five minutes as Clayton McDonald headed goal wards from Matt Bell’s in-swinging corner.

It was all the home side early on and Stour striker Luke Benbow had to be alert on his own goal line as he cleared Forbes’ low effort from under the crossbar after the ball had fallen to the Dabbers’ striker inside the box.

A minute later, the hosts were convinced they had taken the lead as Clayton’s volley sailed over Gould and hit the crossbar, bouncing down over the line. However the linesman ruled it to have not gone in, allowing Stourbridge to clear their lines.

Forbes and Clayton linked well in attack and their good play allowed winger Joe Mwasile a chance to fire an effort on goal, which sailed over the crossbar.

On 20 minutes, they took the lead when Bell’s through ball found Clayton, and the former Kidsgrove man slotted passed Gould for 1-0.

The visitors struggled to create anything and relied on their physicality and Tom Tonks’ long throw.

On the half hour mark, Mwasile broke clear but chose to try and square to Clayton instead of shooting, and his attempted cross flashed across the face of goal and out of play.

At the other end, defender Stuart Pierpoint saw his flicked header from Tonks’ corner fly wide.

Two minutes after the restart and Benbow wasn’t far off finding the net as his overhead kick flew wide of Will Jaaskelainen’s near post.

But much like the first half, the second period continued to see the Dabbers in the ascendancy as more good link up play between Forbes and Clayton saw the latter shoot wide from the edge of the box,

Manager Dave Cooke then made a double substitution as debutant Cole replaced Forbes while Jamie Morgan came on for Clayton McDonald who looked to have pulled up with an injury.

It didn’t take long for Cole to make an impact as within ten minutes of coming on he latched onto Clayton’s neat flick, before firing into the bottom corner from 25-yards (pictured).

The goal was nothing more than the Dabbers deserved and they looked for more as the impressive Curtis Strong was denied by a goal line clearance after the winger had picked the ball up just inside the Stour box.

The final ten minutes of the game offered little in terms of clear cut chances as the Dabbers comfortably saw out the game as they claimed all three points and moved up four places to 18th in the table.

Nantwich Town: Jaaskelainen, Bourne, Wildin, Stair, McDonald (Morgan 56), Bell (c), Mwasile (S. Cooke 73), Hughes, Clayton, Forbes (Cole 57?), Strong. Unused subs: Burzynski (GK), Walley.

Match report written by Steve Sharman