Nantwich Town 1 - 1 Leigh Genesis

A point away from home on their first visit to the Weaver Stadium 

  WED 10 SEP 2008

Despite dominating much of the game, Leigh Genesis had to return from Cheshire content with only gaining a point from an eventful visit to Nantwich Town in a game where Leigh perhaps should have capitalised more successfully.

Steve's selection options were improved prior to the game with the return to fitness of defenders Jerome Fitzgerald and Andrew Teague and the welcome return of winger Jerome Watt after his goalscoring cameo appaearance in the 2-0 win over Frickley at the weekend. Genesis were still missing strikers Darren Mansaram and Richard Chetcuti, with left-sided man Alex Mortimer and defender Paul Booth joining them on the sidelines.

In front of a crowd of over 500 at the Weaver Stadium, we made a lively start to the game as a familiar training ground move saw Jerome Fitzgerald's long throw flicked on by Teague, only Rob Marsh-Evans to be denied by Nantwich goalkeeper Lee Jones, who even at this stage might have been aware that he was in for a busy evening.

Jones, who evidently struggled with a hamstring injury throughout the evening that required treatment on several occasions and meant he was unable to take goal kicks, was soon called back into action when tipping over a cleverly dinked Tom Field free kick from the edge of the area.

Halfway through the first half, Jones found himself beaten by Mark Smyth after he chased on to a through ball and rounded the goalkeeper, only for Leigh's joy to be controversially cut short when the linesman ruled that Berkeley was offside. may have been a harsh decision with popular opinion suggesting that he wasn't interfering with play when returning from what was originally an offside position.

Berkeley was again at the hub of the action as Leigh's frustrations started to grow, the striker seeing his deflected shot smartly palmed over the bar by a retreating Jones.

After mounting pressure for so long, Leigh finally had a great chance to take the lead when they were awarded their second penalty in four days when the referee, albeit somewhat harshly, ruled that the Nantwich right back had handled the ball inside the area. 

However, his blushes were spared when Tom Field's spot kick was comfortably saved by Jones when diving low to his left hand side with five first half minutes remaining.

The second half saw winger Brad Maylett, until that point having a terrific game, forced to withdraw from the action through injury with striker Jordan Stepien replacing him in a switch that meant a degree of tactical reorganisation, with Jerome Watt moving from the left wing to the right, while Mark Smyth moved to the left flank with Stepien partnering Berkeley in attack.

Stepien almost made an instant impact when he acrobatically volleyed a Watt cross, only for Jones again to prove himself equal to the task in brilliantly tipping the ball over the crossbar from point-blank range, with Josh Wilson heading the resultant corner agonisingly wide of the target.

After seventy minutes of almost constant domination, Leigh finally got their noses in front when Andrew Teague headed a Josh Wilson cross back across goal and in to the path of Stepien who emphatically volleyed home at the back post for his third goal in his past three outings.

That joy was particularly short-lived though as the hosts, with virtually their first meaningful period of pressure in the game, getting back on level terms just a matter of minutes later when a right wing corner was headed home at the front post with disappointing ease by Glyn Blackhurst, his side's first UniBond Premier League goal in more than four hours of action.

As Nantwich spent much of the final fifteen minutes in Leigh territory, Genesis should have snatched victory at the death when Mark Smyth broke free on the counter attack, only to fire unfortunately wide of the target when left one-on-one with Jones.

Surprisingly, the result is the first time this season that Leigh have finished a game on level terms and; there has to be disappointment not to have claimed all three points as the weekend's attentions are turned to the FA Cup First Qualifying Round and a visit to UniBond League Division One side Curzon Ashton on Saturday (3pm kick off).

Leigh Genesis; Steve Dickinson, Josh Wilson, Rob Marsh-Evans, Tom Field (Jonathan Goulding), Andrew Teague, Jerome Fitzgerald, Bradley Maylett (Jordan Stepien), Chris Holland, Mark Smyth, Matt Berkeley, Jerome Watt