Nantwich Town 3 Frickley Athletic 2

TWO home wins in the space of a week have propelled Nantwich Town to third in the Evo-Stik Premier Division and into the promotion picture.

Following Saturday’s 4-1 win over Marine courtesy of a Curtis Jones goal inside the first minute and a Sean Cooke hat-trick, The Dabbers seemed to be cruising to a similarly comfortable win over struggling Frickley on Tuesday.

Strikes from Steve Jones, Tom Peers and Joe Mwasile gave them a commanding half time lead, but Ross Barrows’ double narrowed the gap and ensured a nervy finale before Phil Parkinson’s side eventually saw out the win.

After a 20-minute delay to kick off at Weaver Stadium, the hosts started positively as Mwasile had a shot deflected wide before Osebi Abadaki shot straight at the keeper.

The latter succumbed to a hamstring injury shortly after, with Jones taking his place and making an almost immediate impact.

A well-weighted pass sent him through on goal and he waited for the Frickley keeper to go to ground before slotting home.

The opener looked to have opened the floodgates for Nantwich as they doubled their lead just four minutes later when another excellent through-ball sent Peers clear and he lifted the ball over the advancing keeper.

Nantwich found time for one more just before the break as Mwasile raced clear to finish the last of three almost identical goals in the space of six minutes.

After failing to add a fourth goal in the second half, Barrows pegged Nantwich back when he smashed a volley beyond Dabbers keeper Dan Gyollai.

The comeback was really on with eight minutes remaining as the ball dropped inside the area for Burrows to turn home.

Joe Pugh curled a free-kick against the post for the visitors, but Nantwich held on and now face a trip to Sutton Coldfield Town on Saturday, kick off 3pm.