County deflated
COUNTY had to settle for a point against a wellorganised Nuneaton Town side at Edgeley Park last Saturday, after seeing an early second-half Danny Lloyd penalty cancelled out by a cruellydeflected equaliser just 10 minutes later.
Students of the past might have detected an air of historical predictability around the eventual scoreline, given that the last three contests between the clubs had ended in one-all draws. But for present-day purposes, it was an outcome that the Hatters would have preferred to avoid, as results elsewhere saw them drop a place to seventh - and two points outside the play-off positions.
County took to the field with the same starting 11 for the third game running - albeit in a 4-3-3 formation, as opposed to the 4-3-1-2 system that had operated at home to Nuneaton’s near-neighbours Tamworth seven days earlier - and also named an unchanged bench.
The mid-table visitors, for their part, arrived boasting the best current form of all teams in the National League North, and were indisputably quickest out of the blocks. Before the opening 10 minutes were up, both Billy Daniels and Peterborough loanee Jordan Nicholson had gone close with shots narrowly shy of County’s right post.
But as the Hatters began to settle into the game, they were to enjoy the better chances for the remainder of the half. Lloyd, from a free kick, grazed the Cheadle End left upright; Sam Minihan saw his header tipped over by Tyrell Belford; Sefton Gonzales skied an effort, at close range, following good work on the left by Lloyd; and Belford caught Jimmy Ball’s shot, flicked on from Minihan’s delivery on the opposite flank.
County went closest of all through Connor Hampson, whose volley was headed off the line by Kelvin Langmead. And shortly before the break, the Nuneaton captain blocked a further effort on goal from the left-back.
Having been left to rue their missed first-half opportunities, the Hatters went ahead within just four minutes of the resumption after earning a penalty when Gonzales, cutting in from the right, was tripped in the Nuneaton box by Alex Penny.
Lloyd - fresh from scoring
‘I didn’t think one goal would be enough. They score and concede in every game’
against former club Tamworth the previous Saturday, and, five days later, being named the National League North’s Player of the Month for March - stepped up and, following a stop-start approach, cooly sent Belford the wrong way with the spot-kick for his 26th goal in all competitions.
The Hatters then looked to have a claim for a second penalty when Lloyd went to ground under a challenge by former County trialist Brad Gascoigne, but their appeals were waved away by referee Kevin Mulraine.
Worse still for County, the lead was not to last for long - with Nuneaton drawing level on the hour. Some neat interplay between the impressive Devon Kelly-Evans, Ashley Chambers and Nicholson culminated in a shot from the edge of the box by Chambers that was heading wide before deflecting off the back of Michael Clarke’s leg to send Ben Hinchliffe the wrong way.