Town Spruce'd up in home win to stay clear - Match Report & Reaction: NTFC 2 Birstall Utd 0

Match report by Matt Jones

Nuneaton Town 2-0 Birstall United
(Carsley 9, Spruce 45+2)
Attendance: 403

Nuneaton Town ended their busy January with another home fixture this time against Birstall United, a side they had already visited in the cup and league earlier in the season.

Acton and Dodd made a couple of changes from the cup semi final win in midweek, Danico Johnson returning to the eleven ahead of Matt Gardner, and Ben Vallance returned at centre back in place of Dominic Perkins who was sent off in that game.

It was end to end stuff in the first few minutes, as Declan Somel flicked wide from a Callum Carsley cross, and Ryan Seal tested Town keeper Brandon Bache with a dangerous free kick on the edge of the box.

With 9 minutes on the clock, Town opened the scoring as James Spruce received the ball on the right and crossed into the box, his cross somehow missed everyone and Carsley was first to the ball on the left hand side of the box. His scuffed shot also evaded everyone and caught out the keeper as it nestled into the bottom corner (1-0).

Town were not at their flowing best for the remainder of the half, and only a Corey Currithers volley from Carsley's corner which was deflected over and Loyiso Recci heading the next corner into the keeper's gloves were the only chances of note for either side.

However with the clock ticking into stoppage time, Trevor Edwards found James Spruce who then passed to Aaron Williams down the right, and his cutback into the box was helped into the top corner by Spruce for a killer goal just before half time (2-0).

Half time: Nuneaton Town 2-0 Birstall United

Birstall were much more in the game at the beginning of the second half, and should have got a goal back on 52 minutes, as Ben Vallance miscontrolled in a dangerous area, and his blushes were saved by Recci's block on the Birstall effort. The ball was cleared away but Birstall managed to play Aaron Preston through and Bache smothered him very well to deny a goal.

After Justin Marsden replaced James Harrison, Birstall had another chance, this time Ryan Seal was to see his effort parried away by Bache, who was more busy than usual.

Matt Gardner and Cody Mullan replaced Danico Johnson and Aaron Williams as the management looked to freshen up the team, and with Birstall not being able to find a way through, Town looked after the ball well. Gardner should have had 2 goals towards the end of the game as on 79 minutes his header was excellently pushed wide by the keeper, and on 82 was denied again with another brilliant save.

Birstall had a couple of late efforts but Bache was determined to keep his clean sheet, holding on to Louis Neal's effort, and then denying Hundall with a brilliant save onto the post.

Two is how it stayed, with the second half a goalkeeping contest, and Town saw out the game comfortably in the end ahead of the visit to bottom side Paget Rangers next Saturday.

Full time: Nuneaton Town 2-0 Birstall United

Team:

Bache, Edwards, Recci, Vallance, Carsley, Currithers, Somel, Williams, Spruce, Harrison, Johnson

Subs: Perkins, Mullan, Marsden, Gardner, Thorpe

REACTION:

Coach Dan Kembery reflected on the game:

'Yeah it was good, thought we looked solid, took control of the game. Credit to Birstall they did push us a bit to be fair, I thought the lads controlled the game quite nicely. Obviously going forward, we're getting into good areas but we just need a little bit more composure in that final third. But really happy how we controlled the game.'

About the reflections on the first half and how to manage the second half:

'We discussed how we could hurt them. We thought we could get in behind and turn their defence around a little bit, make sure they were facing their goal. And be a bit more direct at times as well. But overall we praised them for coming in 2-0 at half time, little details as to how it can help us second half.'

On Ben Vallance replacing Dom Perkins at centre back for today's game:

'It's a change we made, Dom's suspension is coming up, so it was a good time to bring Ben back into the fold, as we'll be looking to start him in the next game as well.'

About next week's game away at Paget Rangers:

'It's a team bottom of the league but we still want to prepare in the right way, and focus on what we do, and hopefully we can put in a solid performance and keep the run going, and it should be good.'