AFC Telford Utd 1 Nuneaton Town 5

Saturday 14th November, 2015;

Match report courtesy of Nuneaton News;

Nuneaton Town put in a five-star performance as they won their fifth straight game, beating struggling Telford 5-1 to stay top of the Vanarama National League North.

The Boro were simply a class above a Telford team who were relegated with them at the end of last season, taking just five minutes to get themselves ahead, and then spending the next 85 putting on a season’s best performance.

On paper at least this always looked like a game the Boro should be winning – and they started like that was the case with a couple of half chances in the opening few moments before Elliott Whitehouse ultimately did break the deadlock.
The former Sheffield United man was on hand to pick up a wonderfully weighted knock-back by Rob Duffy, hitting it first time low and hard past the diving James Montgomery in the Telford goal.

The strike came in just the fifth minute, but nonetheless, it was on the cards.
Telford just could not get going and they were lucky the game was not out of sight in the opening ten minutes as the Boro continued to press and they saw a chance for Aaron Williams well saved by Montgomery before Callum Chettle smashed the rebound against the crossbar from the edge of the box.

There was only one side in the contest and despite not showing the same attacking threat after that initial flurry, it was always going to be Nuneaton who grabbed the next goal.
It came just after the half hour mark and once again it was Whitehouse who grabbed it, this time hanging back on the edge of the box where Shane Byrne found him at the second attempt after some fine work on the right hand side, with Whitehouse simply side footing it into the top corner while in plenty of space.

Telford were just not being allowed to operate as an attacking entity and when they did get going they found that the Boro spine was a strong one as the defence was proving resolute while Jordan Smith showed his own ability as he produced a moment of magic in goal, somehow pushing over a Connor McCarthy half-volley from just inside the box.

Telford could be forgiven for thinking it would not be their day, a fact that was underlined when Chettle scored a third for the Boro just after the restart – a wonderful effort that would have graced any pitch.
The former Ilkeston man was afforded a lot of room around 25-yards out, and he punished Telford for it, collecting the ball and sending a low rasping drive with venom that thundered its way past Montgomery and into the back of the net.

The only danger for Nuneaton at this stage seemed to be complacency, something they were not going to be allowed to show for long as Telford had soon narrowed the deficit, McCarthy getting his goal after a deep free-kick into the Boro box eluded everyone before Robert Paratore headed into the path of the Telford number 10.

The goal sparked the contest into life and ensured that the Boro were not long out of top-gear.
They defended well as Telford began to pour men forward, Smith was called into action once or twice, but on the whole it was the Boro who once again looked the more likely to score.

They did just that in the 67th minute as Aaron Williams continued his own run of form, picking up the ball on the edge of the box before jinxing his way through and sending a curling effort past Montgomery and into the back of the net.

The Boro were in such total control at this stage it was about how many they could get it seemed – as well as who could score the best goal on the day.
Whitehouse put his entry in with his hat-trick in the 73rd minute, much like Chettle he was afforded too much room in the middle of the Telford half.
He duly punished them by smashing home from distance.

Nuneaton just needed to see the game out at this stage, but they saw a blot on their copy book, as Shane Byrne was given his marching orders late on, the referee showing no hesitation after a late challenge from Byrne on Jack Rea in the middle of the pitch.

It was a rare negative on a day full of positives for Boro boss Kevin Wilson.

NUNEATON: J.Smith, Clifton, C.Keane (J.Keane 75), Lane, Morgan, Maguire, Chettle, Byrne, Duffy (Harewood 70), Whitehouse (Reid 75), Williams.
Subs not used: De La Paz, Daniels.

TELFORD: Montgomery, Samuels (Brownhill 76), Campion, McCone (Deaman 36), Tilt, Rea, Hibbs, Paratore (Dawson 87), Hibbert, McCarthy, Hassan.
Subs not used: Flint, Wilkinson.

Attendance: 1,416