Nantwich Town 0 Stafford Rangers 1

NANTWICH Town got the new year off to a poor start as they slipped to a home defeat on Bank Holiday Monday.

The loss against a Stafford Rangers side containing several former Dabbers players leaves Phil Parkinson’s side in 12th place in the Evo-Stik Premier Division, six points adrift of the play-off places.

Izak Reid scored the only goal of the game ten minutes before half time at Weaver Stadium to ensure Nantwich slipped to back-to-back defeats, while centre-half Curtis Jones had to don the goalkeeping gloves for the final 15 minutes after custodian Dave Parton was sent off.

Parkinson’s side started the game brightly, with Joe Mwasile shooting wide before Ryan Brooke had a shot blocked inside the six-yard area.

At the other end, Kyle Perry’s free-kick was blocked by the Nantwich wall but it was not long until Stafford got their noses in front.

Reid latched onto a poor back pass from Dabbers skipper Sam Hall, getting to the ball before Ben Harrison before calmly slotting past Parton to give the visitors a half-time lead.

After the break, Theo Stair had a shot well saved by Rangers stopper Adam Whitehouse, before ex-Dabber Josh Gordon forced Parton into a low save as Stafford had chances on the counter attack.

Matt Bell then came closest to levelling the scores when his fizzing long-range shot beat Whitehouse but came back off the post.

However, Nantwich’s task then became much tougher when Parton rushed from his area to make a clearance but the ball struck his midriff.

The referee adjudged him to have handled and he was dismissed for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, with Jones having to don the gloves.

Stafford adopted a shoot on sight policy against the stand-in keeper, but it was Nantwich who came closest to scoring in the final stages when a goalmouth scramble following a corner somehow didn’t cross the line.

The visitors saw out the rest of the game to record a victory, while Nantwich will look to avoid a third defeat in a row on Saturday when they travel to Mickleover Sports, kick off 3pm.

Nantwich Town: Dave Parton, Andy White, Ibou Touray, Curtis Jones, Ben Harrison, Sam Hall, Joe Mwasile (Josh Hancock, 58), Matt Bell, Ryan Brooke, Oliver Finney (Osebi Abadaki, 65), Theo Stair (Steve Jones, 52). Subs not used: Wayne Riley, Joel Stair.