Reds maintain winning start

FC United made it two wins from their opening two fixtures as Jerome Wright’s first half strike gave them a solid 1-0 win over Nantwich Town, in front of 1,866 supporters at Gigg Lane on Wednesday evening.

The Reds rattled the crossbar twice in the second half as they looked to put the game beyond the Dabbers but the visitors had a couple of good chances too and United will be please to continue their perfect start to the season.

Having notched up an impressive 2-0 away win at Marine on Sunday, the Reds came into the game looking to build on this and began the brighter team playing with the confidence from Sunday’s victory.

The first real opportunity for United came just minutes in as Nantwich full-back Lee McNulty left his pass to ’keeper Ben Chapman short. Ben Deegan was onto the pass like a flash but saw his close range effort saved by Chapman who made himself big and difficult to beat.

Right from the beginning it was clear that the pace of United’s wide men Wright and Chris Ovington was going to trouble the Nantwich full-backs, and United looked their most dangerous when Wright and Ovington got in around the back of the visiting defence.

It was just after the 20 mark that Wright broke the deadlock. After a good interchange between Deegan and Richard Battersby, Battersby switched the ball to feet of Wright on the left-hand edge of the area.

Wright skipped past the full-back, pushed the ball into space and fired a low shot across goal which hit the far post before bouncing over the line to put United a goal to the good.

For the remainder of the first half it was United who were the busier team, controlling possession and both the front men Deegan and new signing Mike Norton looked to make nuisances of themselves. But United couldn’t get the second goal that would have given them a more comfortable lead.

Only minutes into the second half and United were almost made to pay for not getting that two goal cushion as a scramble in the United area saw the visitors go close several times before Reds ’keeper Sam Ashton eventually cleared the ball to safety.

Moments later, it was Chapman’s turn in the spotlight as he seemed to misjudge the bounce of long ball over the top and grabbed onto the ball a good couple of yards outside of the box. Some off the United faithful were calling for him to be sent off, clearly feeling his handling of the ball had stopped Wright from going through on goal but the referee deemed Chapman’s offence only to be worthy of a yellow card.

After this United continued to pile on the pressure, with numerous half chances coming. The best of these being when Chris Ovington floated a shot in from the left, only to see it bounce off the top of the visitor’s crossbar.

Ovington’s work rate and willingness to defend as much as attack typified the spirit of the team and it was testament to his effort when he was given a standing ovation by the United fan’s when replaced by Carlos Roca with 25 minutes to go.

After going down 2-1 at home to Worksop Town at weekend the urgency in Nantwich’s play was there for all to see as the Dabbers pushed on in the final period of the game looking for at least a draw. Midfielder Michael Carr had a great effort from outside of the box acrobatically saved by Ashton but other than that the Cheshire side never really threatened much in the final third.

It was always United who looked the more likely to get the game’s second goal using their pace to counter-attack. Norton went close to his first home goal for the club but just headed Roca’s cross wide of the post.

And it was Roca again who made probably United’s best effort of the second half crossing to Wright late on in the game, when Wright hit his volley he must have felt the connection would have resulted in a memorable goal but he saw his chance rattle the Nantwich crossbar.

United made it two wins from two games, with another impressive performance and another clean-sheet. Margy’s men now take their 100% record into the Bank Holiday double header with Retford United coming to Gigg Lane on Saturday before the short journey to Ashton United on Monday afternoon.

Report by Craig Phillips

Teams

FC United of Manchester

S. Ashton (Capt)
K. Jacobs
L. Neville
R. Battersby (N. Platt, 76)
M. Parker
S. McManus
C. Ovington (C. Roca, 64)
J. Cottrell
M. Norton
J. Wright
B. Deegan (S. Carden, 90)

Subs Not Used: J. Holden, M. Ayres
Goals: Wright ’21

Nantwich Town

B. Chapman
L. McNulty
D. Adams
C. Flynn
D. Whittaker
J. Sedgemore (Capt) (T. Parkes, 30)
A. Carter
M. Carr
S. Aspinall (M. Robinson, 85)
M. Lennon
K. Blake (R. Jack, 64)

Subs Not Used: O. Mahmood
Booked: Adams ’51, Chapman ’54