United beaten by the better team
THERE are times when you have to admit you were beaten by a better team and on Tuesday night Skelmersdale had to admit that at Weaver Park.
Manager Tommy Lawson was forced to make two changes to the team that had done so well at Buxton on Saturday, Jonah O’Reilly and Jason Jeffries both starting in a match that only kicked off at 8.10pm because of hold-ups on the M6 en route to the match, Skelmersdale actually playing in the Nantwich away kit because Skem’s kit was still stuck on the motorway.
As the teams settled it was Skelmersdale who had the first attempt on goal, Jason Jeffries heading wide from Kenny Strickland’s sixth minute corner.
However, Nantwich opened the scoring on the ten minute mark. Former Skelmersdale player Osebi Abadaki sent in a cross from the left and the ball was poorly headed clear, falling to home midfielder Matt Bell some 25 yards from goal, he stepped on and sent a low shot into the bottom corner of the Skem goal from 18 yards.
Skelmersdale started to recover and on 25 minutes only a swift move from Nantwich goalkeeper Dave Parton prevented Chris Almond from scoring after Jeffries put him through.
The second Nantwich goal came on 27 minutes and it was the result of some bad marking. A cross from the right was met by an unmarked header at the far post, the ball went to Joe Mwasile’s feet in the goalmouth from where he turned and slammed the ball into the net.
In the latter stages Skelmersdale tired and any hopes they had were extinguished by a tremendous strike on 81 minutes. Nantwich right-back Andy White sending in a dipping volley that would have graced any football ground in the world.
By the time Bell struck his second in the dying minutes it was all over.