Nantwich Town 3 Nuneaton Town 1

Defeat at Nantwich Town sees us exit the competition…

BORO made their exit from the Emirates FA Cup with a disappointing 3-1 reverse at Nantwich Town.
There was an early chance for the home side when an inviting high ball into the area just evaded the head of Harry Clayton in the middle.
It was a lively opening with both teams looking to get the ball down and play.
As Boro started to get a foot-hold into the game, Daniel Nti beat the offside trap only for his low strike to be easily gathered then Brad Gascoigne went close shortly afterwards with an acrobatic effort after the home side failed to clear their lines.
Some good play on the right by Luke Trotman almost sees him play through Billy Daniels, but the home side were alert to clear the danger and launch a raid of their own which was dealt with by the Boro back-line.
The home side went close in what was an end-to-end opening as Bourne’s cross found Forbes whose effort went just wide of the target.
Alex Henshall was alert to latch onto a back-pass only for the ‘keeper to deny him, then at the other end, Clayton fired over for the home side following a free-kick.
It was the home side who took the lead just before the half-hour mark when a teasing ball into the danger zone was flicked on to Forbes who was able to stab home beyond Dean Lyness.
Boro looked to hit back straight away as we upped the pressure. A header from Henshall was well saved by Burzynski then Trotman’s cross was headed just wide by Ashley Chambers.
As half-time approached, Lyness made a vital save after Forbes played through Clayton and he was thwarted by the Boro ‘keeper as he went through in a one-on-one situation.
There was a scramble on the line at the other end when both Niall Heaton and then Chambers were denied in front of goal as the home side somehow managed to keep the ball out.
Boro ended the opening period with real purpose but we went in at the interval trailing by one goal to nil.
It was Boro who posed the early questions after the restart as we forced a series of corners only to find the home defence in stubborn mood.
A well-worked corner found Henshall whose strike was straight at the ‘keeper before Brady Hickey went close with an effort.
Despite our bright start to the second period, we fell two goals behind on the hour-mark when a corner was headed home by Stair.
It wasn’t long before it was 3-0 as Clayton took the ball around the advancing Lyness before setting up Sean Cooke for a simple tap-in.
There was a triple change as Nti, Daniels and Hickey were replaced by Elliott, Nicholson and Mills as shell-shocked Boro looked for a way back into the game.
Lyness did well to get his fingertips to a Cooke free-kick on 70 minutes, whilst at the other end a free-kick from Beswick was headed narrowly over by Gascoigne.
We managed to reduce the arrears with quarter-of-an-hour to go when Mills curled a free-kick around the wall and into the net.
The goal gave us a lift and Henshall saw his positive run end with a powerful drive that was well saved by Burzynski in the home goal.
Sadly, it was too little, too late as we exited the competition.