Marine 0 Nantwich 0

A DISALLOWED Dave MacPherson goal was the major talking point as Nantwich played out a stalemate at Marine’s Arriva Stadium.

MacPherson thought he had given the Dabbers a 16th minute lead when he prodded past Ryan McMahon in the Marine goal, but referee Iain Siddall believed the midfielder had unfairly challenged the keeper.

The hosts were the brighter of the two sides in the early exchanges and top scorer Neil Harvey went close to opening the scoring when he headed Aaron Rey’s cross narrowly over.

Marine’s Louis Barnes went closer than anybody to breaking the deadlock on the half hour mark when his 25-yard drive swerved wickedly and crashed against the bar leaving Jon Brain rooted to the spot.

Sean Cooke had Nantwich’s best opportunity of the first half, but his 20-yard free-kick went just wide of McMahon’s post.

Marine were forced into a half-time substitution when goalkeeper McMahon was replaced by midfielder Thomas Moore after the keeper suspected he had broken his thumb in a challenge with MacPherson in the first half.

The early stages of the second half were again controlled by the hosts and Brain was forced into another top draw save on the hour mark.

Liam Dawson thought he had given the Merseyside outfit the lead, until the ex-Macclesfield stopper clawed the ball over when it looked destined for the top right corner.

Paul Lundon then missed a golden opportunity from the resulting corner when Dawson’s well flighted cross was perfect for the midfielder to head home, only for him to fire over from six yards.

Dabbers debutant Andy White nearly got his loan spell from Crewe off to a disastrous start when he tripped on the ball and allowed Dawson a glorious opportunity to give Marine the lead, but the midfielder placed wide to save the full-back’s blushes.

Nantwich’s first chance of the second-half fell to Jordan Connerton -making his first start since his return to Nantwich- but the striker blasted wide after good interplay between Matt Lowe and Michael Lennon.

The Dabbers could have won it in the closing stages through Mat Bailey, but the defender volleyed Cooke’s corner over from eight yards and both teams went home with a share of the spoils.

Nantwich: Brain, Lowe, White, MacPherson, Bailey, McDonald, Cooke (Foster, 86), Flynn ©, Connerton, Lennon (Everall, 86), Maguire. Sub: Mitchell.

Marine: McMahon © (Moore, 45), Duff, L. Barnes, Shaw, S. Barnes, Goulding, Brown, Lundon, Rey (Byers, 86), Harvey, Ordish (Dawson, 22). Subs: Latham, Devine.