Early goals in both halves were enough for Nantwich Town to see off Hednesford Town at The Weaver Stadium on a balmy autumnal evening in Cheshire …
Rob Smith made three changes from the starting line up that lost at Kettering. Sheridon Martinez made his debut to replace keeper Josef Bursik, away on England U19 duty. Dan Sweeney made a full debut and Reece King returned to midfield while Mike Howard and Jermain Hollis dropped to the bench.
Former Pitman James Lawrie featured for Nantwich but Keys Park favourite Danny Glover was absent with a back injury.
The Pitmen started with a 5-3-2 formation, Curley and Fox operating as wing backs. The home side started well and took the lead after 12 minutes when Lindfield sprang a leaky offside trap and calmly finished after latching on to a ball over the top. Mwasile was a constant threat down the right flank as the Pitmen struggled to get into the game.
As the first half wore on the home team lost their way and the visitors came more into the game. A couple of promising freekick positions came to nothing and a Curley effort drifted past the far post. On 31 minutes, Dan Sweeney latched onto a loose pass by Stair, powered forward and finished emphatically into the bottom corner to level.
HT: 1-1
Nantwich again started positively and Mwasile set up Lindfield for his second of the night with a low cross to put The Dabbers in front.
Rob Smith made changes on the hour. Cockerline and Howard replaced Curley and Archer as the Pitmen went to a 4-3-3 formation in search of an equaliser. However, Hednesford were finding it difficult to turn possession into chances and rarely threatened. Even an appearance from Glover among the Pitmen faithful couldn’t galvanise the visitors into meaningful attacking action.
As Hednesford threw more men forward, gaps appeared at the back. Griffiths and Galinski both made last ditch interventions and Martinez pulled off a smart double save on 81 minutes.
The home side had their hearts in their mouths on 85 minutes as a curling effort from Edge was narrowly wide but Nantwich comfortably saw out the final minutes to move into 6th place in the table.
The Pitmen finally return to Keys Park on Saturday after six consecutive away games with 4th place South Shields the visitors.
Nantwich Town: Spiess, Bourne, Morgan, Stair, Mullarkey, Bell, Mwasile (Phillips 87), Lawrie, Malkin, Cooke, Lindfield (Saunders 67)
Subs not used: Hawkins, Jones, Knight
Hednesford Town: Martinez, Mendez-Jones, Griffiths, Fitzpatrick, Galinski, King, (Edge 67), Curley (Howard 60), Coyle, Archer (Cockerline 60), Sweeney, Fox
Subs not used: Veiga, Hollis
Attendance: 305
