Kendal Town 0 Nantwich Town 1

SEAN Cooke’s 88th minute cracker secured Nantwich’s return to winning ways as Jimmy Quinn’s men won 1-0 at Parkside Lane.

A much improved Nantwich performance from Saturday’s home defeat to Grantham Town has restored confidence ahead of Saturday’s trip to Chorley in the FA Cup First Qualifying Round.

The Cumbrians were constantly thwarted by the impressive Darren Moss and Rod McDonald and were restricted to just long range efforts with Kevin Leadbetter forcing to simple saves from Brain.

Brain was called into action on 70 minutes as substitute Josh Kenworthy struck his 20-yard free-kick well through a number of bodies but the ex- Port Vale stopper was equal to the task.

The Dabbers winner came two minutes from time as Lewis Short broke down the left and saw his cross cleared by Duggan although that clearance was in vain as Cooke’s sweetly struck 25-yarder left Craig Dootson in the Kendal goal with no chance.

Nantwich travel to Chorley on Saturday and those fans who cannot make the game can listen live on redshiftradio.co.uk from 2.30pm.

Nantwich Town 0 Grantham Town 2

THE Dabbers fell to their first home defeat of the campaign as Grantham Town took all three points back to Lincolnshire.

The visitors continued their impressive start to the EvoStik Northern Premier League campaign with a 2-0 win at the Weaver Stadium.

A Lee Potts penalty and a 30-yard strike from Martin Ball meant the damage was done inside the first-half for The Gingerbreads.

Jimmy Quinn made two changes to the side that lost at Ashton United on Bank Holiday Monday with Darren Moss and Mark Beesley replacing Niall Maguire and Chris Flynn.

The Lincolnshire side were by far the quicker out of the blocks as Potts went close on the volley from a Ben Saunders flick on after just five minutes.

The visitors were awarded a penalty on ten minutes as Darren Moss was adjudged to have felled Karl Demidh in the area and Potts made no mistake in burying the spot-kick into Jonny Brain’s left hand corner.

Nantwich failed to create many clear openings and went closest when Beesley broke the offside trap but was thwarted by James Martin in The Gingerbreads goal.

Grantham were the better side throughout though and went close minutes later as Demidh forced a sharp save from Brain.

The lead was doubled on the stroke of half-time as Martin Ball was given space and he struck a thunderbolt from 30 yards leaving Brain with little chance.

Nantwich struggled to get into the game and the closest they went was 20 minutes from time when Rod McDonald headed Caspar Hughes’ free-kick against the post.

Grantham could have further stretched the lead in the late stages but Demidh was again thwarted by Brain.

Pictures by Simon J Newbury Photography